Champions Arsenal Host Leeds as Premier League Returns after Three-week Break

Live Reporting

11:55 BST

Premier League football is back but the shadow of Manchester City’s Premier League rule breaches continues to loom over the league with lots of clubs wondering what this could mean for them and what impact it might have.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has said his conscience is clear, despite some of the charges relating to a period when he was assistant manager at the club.

The Arsenal boss worked under Pep Guardiola between 2016 and 2019, which overlapped with the nine seasons during which City have been found to have broken rules and disguised secret funding of more than £830m.

In his first news conference since the ruling – which the club has appealed – Arteta attempted to bat away questions, saying he wanted to “respect” the ongoing process.

However, towards the end of more than half an hour of questioning, he was asked: “You were at City for three and a half years, is your conscience clear? You had a senior position there, is your conscience clear?”

Arteta answered: “Yes”.

11:52 BST

Mikel Arteta has brought back my Arsenal, he’s brought back the culture.

There’s good people in place, it’s all their set and ready to go. They can’t be distracted by Man City, we go and win our games of football.

This is a really good Leeds team, so it’s not going to be easy but I’m expecting them to come out of the blocks fine.

11:49 BST

Positive news this week for Arsenal fans as manager Mikel Arteta signed a new contract with the champions until 2030.

The Spaniard’s deal was set to expire at the end of this season, with his time in charge of the Gunners now possibly stretching to a decade following his arrival in December 2019.

11:46 BST

I don’t understand what Arteta has against Gyokeres. He scored in all 4 nations league games whilst Havertz got injured, yet still starts Havertz. I’m not sure what more Gyokeres could do?

I had just looked through Arsenal’s starting 11 and I am a bit disappointed that Victor Gyokeres isn’t starting, he had the best international break of any of the Arsenal players. What does he have to do lead the Arsenal attack? But what do I know?

11:43 BST

What a season Leeds are having so far.

Fifth in the Premier League, Daniel Farke’s side can go to the Emirates with nothing to fear and will take confidence from the robustness of the squad they have assembled.

They have been superb at the back, with goalkeeper James Trafford and defender Tarik Muharemovic adding extra steel since their summer arrivals. As a team, they have limited their opponents to just 0.09 xG per shot, a tally only the Gunners can better with 0.08.

Where Leeds may also be able to match Arsenal is from attacking set-pieces. They lead the Premier League for the percentage of their shots (46.7%) and xG (41.0%) which have come from non-penalty set-pieces, with three of their seven goals coming from dead-ball situations.

11:39 BST

Arsenal are Premier League reigning champions for the first time since the 2004-05 season and they started the season with four wins in a row (to add to their five consecutive wins at the end of last season) and just one goal conceded.

In fact, the Gunners have faced the lowest expected goals (4.04) and the fewest shots on target (14) overall in the Premier League this season.

But, they were undone by Fabian Hurzeler’s high-flying Brighton side last time out.

Brighton had 17 shots, which was a total Arsenal faced just once in the entirety of 2025-26, and that was in their opening match against Man Utd, who had 22.

11:36 BST

Brighton were brilliant when they beat Arsenal before the international break – the Seagulls really harried and hassled the champions and went toe-to-toe with them.

I don’t think Leeds will go about things the same way, but they will still provide a stern test.

Daniel Farke’s side are really solid but also carry a big threat too, and they are a very different proposition to the side Arsenal thumped 5-0 at Emirates Stadium at the start of last season.

So, this game will tell us a lot about where Arsenal are and how they have recovered from that Brighton defeat.

I’d still back the Gunners to find a way to win, especially because they are at home, but it will be a lot closer than last time. Leeds don’t concede goals as freely any more.

Sutton’s prediction: 2-0

Read the full predictions and have your say here

11:33 BST

Relieved to have the Premier League and Championship back?

Get in touch with your thoughts, feelings and predictions as top-flight domestic football returns.

11:30 BST

Just five games in, it might seem a bit early to pay much attention to the Premier League table – but it’s probably more settled than you think.

If we look at the Premier League after five games last season and where teams ultimately ended up, the final table was already starting to take shape as 13 of the 20 sides finished within four places of where they sat even at this early stage (65%).

Eventual champions Arsenal were second, Sunderland were already seventh – where they finished eight months later – and two of the three sides that were relegated were already in the bottom three.

11:27 BST

Kai Havertz and Ezri Konsa have recovered from the knocks they picked up on international duty to start for Arsenal. Noni Madueke also starts from the left for the Gunners.

Arsenal starting XI: Raya, White, Konsa, Gabriel, Calafiori, Rice, Lewis-Skelly, Odegaard, Saka, Madueke, Havertz

Substitutes: Arrizabalaga, Zubimenid, Timber, Eze, Merino, Gyokeres, Hincapie, Guimaraes, Dowman

Dominic Calvert-Lewin starts up top for Leeds as they look to continue their impressive start to the season.

Leeds starting XI: Trafford, Bogle, Muharemovic, Gudmondsson, Elvedi, Justin, Tanaka, Stach, Ampadu, Okafor, Calvert-Lewin

Substitutes: Zetterer, Bard, Gruev, Bahoya, Bijol, Nmecha, Wilson, Longstaff, Aaronson

11:24 BST

Here’s how things stand before today’s action.

Victory over Leeds for Arsenal would see them close the gap to Manchester City at the top of the table, but unless they score a load of goals, they’re unlikely to creep past Enzo Maresca’s side on goal difference.

A win for high-flying Leeds would see them surpass the Gunners and leapfrog into second. That would be quite a thing.

11:21 BST

Some cracking fixtures in here. We kick the day off with Arsenal v Leeds before four 3pm kick-offs then Manchester United host Tottenham to finish off a cracking return to Premier League football.

11:18 BST

After a three week break, the Premier League is back. That was a long old slog wasn’t it? Not much going on really…

In all seriousness, yes things are a bit strange because of the continuing case against Manchester City after they were found to have broken rules and disguised secret funding of more than £830m. But it’s good to have some actual Premier League footie back isn’t it?

A bumper schedule today with some absolute corkers.

Let’s get into it…

Source: BBC