Guimaraes off the bench seals Arsenal 2-1 win over Leeds but questions remain

Bruno Guimaraes came off the bench to score the winner as Arsenal recovered to beat Leeds United 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium in their Premier League match on Saturday, the Brazilian recording his second Premier League goal of the season.

Guimaraes, the £75m summer signing, again had a decisive impact after sparking Arsenal's 2-0 win at Sunderland in September by scoring the opener; his finish against Leeds came on his full home debut. Arsenal's title defence has produced scares — they suffered a comprehensive 3-0 defeat at Brighton last time out, have fallen behind in a league match for the third time in four fixtures and needed a David Raya penalty save to avoid trailing at Sunderland.

Arsenal conceded in the 55th minute against Leeds before Riccardo Calafiori levelled and Guimaraes provided the winner to secure three points. "It was a great game of football. Leeds were brilliant for one hour." said Ally McCoist on TNT Sports. "Mikel Arteta made changes when he needed to and the substitutions gave Arsenal what they needed. That's what champions do. Leeds can hold their heads high."

The 28-year-old midfielder has now scored two goals that have directly helped his side to valuable points and has been described in the article as a 'win-now' signing in the peak years of his career. Guimaraes was the first player to score twice from the bench this season and both goals have been from outside the box; he also responded after a disappointing full-league debut at Brighton.

Mikel Arteta defended his selection choices after the match and praised Guimaraes. Arteta said: "He wasn't at that level against Brighton, and this is the level for Arsenal. Every week, every game, every minute, every action, you have to be at that level. "Today was much better. That's what we have to demand, and this is what I demand to myself. I'm going to demand the same with the players, because if we do that, he will raise the standards and we will be a better team."

Arteta's forward choices drew attention as he started Kai Havertz up front despite the German returning early from international duty after picking up a hamstring issue, leaving Viktor Gyokeres on the bench again. Gyokeres had scored four goals, registering in every match for Sweden in the last international break, but has yet to start a Premier League game and in his cameos this season has looked far from the level required as a striker who could fire Arsenal to back-to-back titles; the forward line did not click and Havertz appeared short of match sharpness. Winger Christos Tzolis suffered a hamstring issue with Greece and, with Eberechi Eze out of form, Arteta used Noni Madueke on the left wing — Arteta said Madueke had been "being the best player in training for the last 10 days."

Defensively, Arsenal have conceded five goals in six league games despite the partnership of Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba being described in the article as one of the best in the world, and the team are said to be missing the injured Frenchman's calmness. Ezri Konsa, signed from Aston Villa for £55m, is noted as still getting used to his new surroundings. Riccardo Calafiori's equaliser was his first league strike this term and no defender has been involved in more Premier League goals than the Italian (one goal, two assists). Arteta added: "The last time we put our shirts on, something was missing." "And we need to be very conscious of that. From being exceptional and being the champions to being extremely average, like in that game, is a really thin line. "So if you don't want it more than the opponent, you are not able to cope emotionally with certain situations, you're going to suffer. "And we all suffered and we didn't enjoy that game, but then you have to learn the lesson and we certainly done that. "We speak about it and you could sense that there was something in those tummies."

The victory was Arsenal's fifth in six league matches and moved Mikel Arteta's side level on points with leaders Manchester City in the Premier League.