Craig Scott

Sun 8 May 2022 15:53, UK

Leeds United dropped into the Premier League’s relegation zone as they lost 2-1 to Arsenal at the Emirates on Sunday.

Eddie Nketiah’s brace in the first 10 minutes was enough for the Gunners to win all three points before Luke Ayling was sent off and an unexpected consolation goal in the second half by Diego Llorente.

Everton’s win at Leicester means that Leeds now go into their final three matches placed 18th in the table.

Here, MOT Leeds News rates the players out of 10 for their performances against Arsenal:

Illan Meslier – 3

Meslier committed an absolute howler for Nketiah’s first goal in the fifth minute. Unfortunately for the young goalkeeper, that mistake set the tone for the afternoon as Leeds slumped to one of their worst Premier League performances.

Luke Ayling – 0

Where do we start? Ayling was making his 500th club appearance, was wearing the captain’s armband, was one of Leeds’ most senior and trusted players and he did that. Ayling’s red-card challenge was a joke, what was he thinking? Before his horrific lunge on Martinelli, Ayling was being torn to shreds by the Arsenal attacker. Ayling, you’ve let us all down – here’s a zero out of 10.

Robin Koch – 5

It wasn’t a terrible afternoon for Koch as he slotted back into the defence in the absence of Liam Cooper. The German seems to have improved a bit under Marsch’s leadership.

Diego Llorente – 6 (Man of the match)

Llorente wasn’t bad in the defence and scored an unexpected goal for Leeds at a corner. It was clever bit of play by the Spain centre-back, who’s been disappointing for large spells of this season.

Junior Firpo – 4

Firpo’s flick-on for Llorente to score his goal was superb. However, the left-back was torn to bits by Bukayo Saka for most of the match. We’re yet to see a run of decent displays by Firpo in a Leeds shirt.

Kalvin Phillips – 4

We’re not going to be harsh on Phillips, who still looks as though he needs some time to get back up to full match fitness. He was a bit anonymous at the Emirates in a game that really passed him by.

Mateusz Klich – 4

Klich was booked in the first half for a cynical foul and did little else for us to write about before he was substituted off at half time and replaced by youngster Lewis Bate.

Raphinha – 3

Raphinha showed more effort in his protests to Ayling’s red card than he did about anything else in the game. Raphinha looked as though he was just angling to be substituted off in the second half. We don’t want to see that from any of our players.

Jack Harrison – 4

Absolutely no end-product. Harrison was able to charge down the left flank a couple of times but his vision and passing were terrible. Other than that, he didn’t do much, if we’re honest.

Daniel James – 4

It was another poor performance by James. The Wales international still hasn’t proven his worth to Leeds this season and questions should be asked about why Marcelo Bielsa and Victor Orta thought it was wise to spend the bulk of their budget on him when they need a central midfielder and a striker.

Joe Gelhardt – 4

Gelhardt wasn’t in the game at all and was substituted off by Marsch in the wake of Ayling’s sending off inside half an hour. Poor guy. Ayling owes him an apology.

Substitutions:

Pascal Struijk (on for Gelhardt, ’29) – 5

Lewis Bate (on for Klich, ’46) – 5

Rodrigo (on for Raphinha, ’60) – 4

In other Leeds United news, this star player will quit Elland Road in the summer no matter what.