Leeds United are preparing to face Arsenal in their second game of the Premier League season for the first time in 24 years.
Having claimed a home win over Everton thanks to a late Lukas Nmecha penalty, Daniel Farke and his Leeds side will travel to North London with plenty of confidence.
With new signing Noah Okafor pushing for a place in Farke’s squad, Leeds could have more firepower to call on as they look to pull off an upset against Mikel Arteta’s side.
24 years ago, David O’Leary and his Champions League semi-finalists also travelled to North London off the back of a home win to start the season, as they looked to mount a title challenge.
Despite red cards for Lee Bowyer and Danny Mills, Leeds pulled off a famous win to maintain their 100% start to the season in August 2001.
Ian Harte helps Leeds United to a famous away win
Although Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal would go on to win the title in the 2001/02 season, they met a motivated Leeds side who looked likely to be serious contenders in the second game of the season.
After a feisty opening period saw Eirik Bakke and Olivier Dacourt both receive yellow cards, Leeds took the lead after a brilliant piece of quick thinking from Ian Harte.
Having asked the referee for permission to take a free-kick quickly, Harte caught David Seaman out of position and curled in brilliantly at the far post from 25 yards out, infuriating the Arsenal players and fans in equal measure.
Sylvain Wiltord reacted quickest to head a scuffed Ashley Cole shot past a despairing dive from Nigel Martyn to level the scores, as the game began to simmer before half-time.
Leeds took the lead early in the second half thanks to a smart finish from Mark Viduka, firing into the bottom corner from 18 yards out, before tempers finally boiled over. Seven players received yellow cards in the last 20 minutes as Leeds ended the game with nine men.
Bowyer was the first to see red after being shown a second yellow for a foul on Ashley Cole, before Mills followed him for an early bath after kicking the ball at Cole as he lay on the floor. But Leeds held on for a famous win as they looked poised to mount a challenge for the Premier League title.
David O’Leary ultimately failed in his Champions League goal
Leeds stormed to the Champions League semi-final in the 2000/01 season, which featured famous nights such as a Bowyer-inspired win over AC Milan.
The Whites missed out on Champions League qualification at the end of that season and spent big again to try and crack back into Europe’s elite.
Speaking to ITV after Leeds’ win over Arsenal, O’Leary reiterated the need for Leeds to qualify for the Champions League, stating: “My goal is to get back into the Champions League because I work for a PLC company and that’s where they want me to be. And hopefully I can take this club there.”
However, despite challenging at the top end of the Premier League for much of the year, a home win over Everton proved to be the beginning of the end of O’Leary’s reign, as Leeds finished fifth and free-spending chairman Peter Ridsdale’s dream ended in a nightmare.
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