Daniel Farke makes Sean Longstaff howler as Leeds United XI drops vs Arsenal

Daniel Farke has named his Leeds United team to face Arsenal on Saturday lunchtime.

The Whites travel to the Emirates for a 12:30pm kick-off against the defending Premier League champions.

Leeds are winless against the Gunners in their last 16 meetings, dating all the way back to 2003.

As such, that brings into sharp focus the size of the task at hand facing Farke's side in North London.

Leeds will no doubt take any kind of result from their visit to the capital, but Farke won't be setting his team up to run scared from Mikel Arteta's men.

In that regard, however, the German has passed up a big chance to hurt Arsenal by way of not selecting Sean Longstaff.

What Leeds United starting XI has Daniel Farke picked vs Arsenal?

With players dealing with knocks and contending with returns from the international break, Farke had some big starting XI calls to make today.

One of the straightforward decisions was who to start in goal, with that of course being James Trafford.

Tarik Muharemovic, Nico Elvedi and James Justin make up the back three, with Jayden Bogle and Gabriel Gudmundsson the two wing-backs.

Farke has gone with a central midfield bank of Anton Stach, Ethan Ampadu and Ao Tanaka.

Leading the Leeds line at the Emirates is Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Noah Okafor, as the Whites aim to extend their unbeaten record in the league this term.

There is no place for Longstaff in Leeds' starting lineup against Arsenal, but why might leaving him on the bench have been a mistake by Farke?

Why Longstaff could've unlocked the Arsenal door

Having signed from Newcastle in last year's summer window, Longstaff enjoyed some big moments in a Leeds shirt in 2025-26.

The 28-year-old proved himself to be an uber-reliable player when called upon, netting three times and providing two assists from 28 games.

So far in 2026-27, however, he's made just two appearances in the Premier League which has culminated in a mere 10 minutes on the pitch.

Per FotMob, Longstaff's 0.54 big chances created and 2.42 successful crosses per 90 ranked him in the top 2.5 per cent of all Premier League central midfielders last season.

Meanwhile, his 2.24 chances created and 13.1 kilometres covered per 90 put him in the top 6.2 per cent.

Longstaff also averaged 3.40 tackles won per game in 2025-26, which ranked him in the leading 8.6 percentile amongst his positional rivals.

So, with Tanaka's form remaining inconsistent and chances perhaps to come at a premium on Saturday, Longstaff could've been a big threat to Arsenal.