With all the energy of a university student putting on their weekly 427,000-1 acca, Mikel Arteta described the Saturday lunchtime, post-international break home kick-off after a heavy defeat that awaited Arsenal as a “bad mixture”.

Daniel Farke might as well have dressed his players in any of the discarded and grossly misunderstood inflatable bananas the belligerent Manchester City support took to Anfield, such was Leeds’ innate level of hazardousness at the Emirates.

But Arsenal persisted and passed, eventually restoring their sense of self as a result.

“We had a point to prove,” Arteta said before the game. “Something was touched in our identity against Brighton, especially in the manner that we reacted after being in a difficult situation.”

Arsenal had been violated rather than pecked by the Seagulls, and perhaps only a meal-delaying, office-destroying, temperature-raising, pickpocket-employing madman would have chosen unbeaten Leeds as their next opponent.

Yet as ever with Arteta, it worked. And in the process, the Gunners seemed to reawaken a dormant and remarkably valuable quality.

In last season’s entire title-winning campaign, only two of Arsenal’s 26 Premier League wins came having trailed.

Their tally of comeback victories in both 2023-24 and 2024-25 was just three, with their points gained from losing positions in those years among the lowest in the division.

Their emotional, impulsive, sentiment-driven breakthrough as legitimate title challengers in 2022-23 featured many of those stirring rallies against your Fulhams, your Manchester Uniteds, your Aston Villas and the Gary O’Neil’s Bournemouths of this world.

We’re talking Eddie Nketiah at the death. Reiss Nelson coming up clutch. Two stoppage-time goals at Villa Park.

But that campaign was also the last in which Arsenal relied on such an unsustainable, drama-driven trait to establish momentum. Arteta soon realised he had to build a team which strangles the life out of games when leading, rather than one which spends too much time chaotically chasing.

Arsenal winning twice from behind already this season does not necessarily mean they have reverted to that trope. It is more a reflection of their character and mentality, as well as absurd squad depth.

The winning goals after conceding first against Chelsea and Leeds were not scrappy stoppage-time set-piece clinchers but wonderful team moves capped in the 50th and 70th minutes respectively.

They barely allowed a chance thereafter in the former, and faced no opposition shots after Bruno Guimaraes made it 2-1 in the latter.

Arsenal are still seeing games out routinely, just in a slightly more roundabout, unconventional way.

“The last time that 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,” Arteta said afterwards.

Like when he probably observed Declan Rice constantly scanning to guard his phone, keys and wallet from impending thievery, the Arsenal manager got the response he wanted.

By Matt Stead