THE champions suffered from some early kick-offitis at Ashburton Grove today (Saturday) but revived themselves just in time to shake off a resilient Leeds United side.

Arsenal seemed short on energy and ideas in a first-half tussle when chances were at a premium. In fact, it was one of those lunchtimes when Kai Havertz looks like he’s won a competition to be in the first team, Martin Odegaard’s radar malfunctions and Bukayo Saka suddenly seems to have forgotten how to beat his man. You can’t be brilliant every week, and maybe we have come to expect too much after the treat of the last 12 months.

But Mikel Arteta’s team need to work out what to do when they come up against a tight press and, for want of a better word, a bit of muscle. The first-half chances fell to both sides, even if Arsenal had a hold of the ball for large periods and Havertz might have scored when he headed a cross from Noni Madueke straight at James Trafford in the Leeds goal.

The visitors were denied by David Raya when Ethan Ampadu’s looping header needed retrieving on the goal line and Gabriel Gudmundsson powered a close-range shot into his palms.

Once again, there was a lack of zip in the passing and, like Brighton before them, Leeds were committed to a lockdown pressure which kept Arsenal’s midfield struggling to create inviting openings and too often looking backwards.

The blessing in disguise may actually have been falling behind, a jolt which brought the Gunners to life in the second period. James Justin had ended a counter-attack move by firing past David Raya at the back post after the keeper had missed a skidding cross along the ground. It was a crossroads moment for Arsenal: sink like they did at the Amex Stadium before the international break, or finally wake from their lethargy.

The answer was the second and the reaction was swift. A deep cross was headed back into the box by Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori was free to force the ball home past Trafford, who juggled the ball on its way in. Calafiori had been one of the few players to go head-to-head with that Leeds muscle, winning 50/50s and pushing the play forward. He is an unsung hero, but might just be one of Arsenal’s best weapons. Maybe he should be deployed on the left wing, the club’s problem position.

Arsenal then quickly powered through the gears and may just about have scored their best goal of the season so far when a series of kicks and flicks opened up a path for Bruno Guimaraes, on as a sub, to power the ball low into the corner. A swift and powerful turnaround, but one that needed a deficit to get started.

“We knew it was going to be really tough,” said Arteta afterwards. “They are incredibly dangerous and we got into a situation being one down at home and after that [Brighton] defeat and a 12:30 kick-off, it is a bad mixture. We got out of that through pinching our desire to win, to have a reaction, to show the personality and courage that we have in this team. Once we equalised, the energy changed, the finishers came in and made a huge difference again to help us win the game. That’s what we are made of. We know that it’s going to be every single week.”