Leeds were unbeaten and ahead at the Emirates, and Bruno Guimarães came off the bench to win it for Arsenal
James Justin put Leeds in front before Riccardo Calafiori and the substitute Guimarães scored eight minutes apart, lifting Arsenal level on points with Manchester City.
Oct 10, 2026
For an hour at the Emirates, Leeds United looked like the better side. Then Mikel Arteta changed three players at once, and five minutes later one of them, Bruno Guimarães, had won the game.
Arsenal came from behind to beat Leeds 2-1 on Saturday, ending the visitors’ unbeaten start to the Premier League season. James Justin scored first for Leeds, Riccardo Calafiori equalised in the 62nd minute and Guimarães, signed from Newcastle in the summer for a reported £75 million, struck the winner in the 70th. It was his first goal at the Emirates.
Leeds earn their lead
Arsenal had not played in the league since losing 3-0 at Brighton on 19 September, and they started like a side still thinking about it. Daniel Farke’s Leeds created the better chances and kept catching them offside. Arsenal were flagged repeatedly in the match.
The goal Leeds deserved came ten minutes after half-time. Gabriel Gudmundsson’s low ball into the box set it up and Justin finished it. The side with the league’s joint-best defence were ahead at the home of the champions. Leeds had lost 5-0 and 4-0 to Arsenal last season. This looked like a different team.
The full-backs, then the bench
The equaliser came from Arsenal’s full-backs. Noni Madueke crossed to the far post, Ben White headed it back across goal, and Calafiori, the left-back, was there to score from close range.
Three minutes later Arteta made his move, sending on Guimarães, Jurriën Timber and Viktor Gyökeres for White, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Kai Havertz. On 70 minutes Madueke, Martin Ødegaard and Declan Rice worked the ball through the middle and Guimarães hit a low shot from outside the box past James Trafford.
Arsenal should have had a third. Ødegaard nearly had one in the 83rd minute, when Rice’s ball into the six-yard box came back to him off a defender, and in stoppage time Trafford made a fine save when Bukayo Saka was through on goal. Trafford had been lucky moments earlier, when he came well out of his area and miscontrolled the ball to Gyökeres, who could not make Leeds pay.
By the end the numbers had turned Arsenal’s way. They finished with 13 shots to Leeds’ 11 and an expected goals figure of 2.58 to 0.68.
Level with City, and Liverpool host them on Sunday
The win puts Arsenal on 15 points, level with Manchester City, who stay top on goal difference. City go to Anfield on Sunday. Leeds stay on nine points, and on this evidence Farke has a side that can trouble anybody. They just could not do it for 90 minutes.