Leeds United have suffered a 4-1 defeat in their difficult Premier League clash with leaders Arsenal at the Emirates this afternoon and Javi Gracia will be starting to feel the pressure big time in the relegation battle.
The Whites have fallen to 16th following the loss and are only one point clear of the bottom three with just ten games left to fight to remain in the top-flight next season, with an important game against Nottingham Forest coming up on Tuesday.
The visitors were completely outplayed by their opponents throughout tallying up only 33% possession, fewer shots on goal (7 v 13), fewer big chances created (0 v 5) and less than half as many accurate passes completed (218 v 539).
In the first half, Leeds managed to hold off Mikel Arteta's phenomenally in-form side for the opening 35 minutes with a strong start, however, a huge mistake committed by Luke Ayling cost his team dearly when his mistimed challenge gifted Arsenal a penalty converted by Gabriel Jesus.
Once the Gunners got their first taste of goals they couldn't stop – netting a further three in the second half – although Leeds did take a consolation goal away from the game when Rasmus Kristensen found the back of the net in the 76th minute.
Indeed, Ayling's poor tackle set Leeds up for disaster, but there were several players on the pitch who made little to no effort to put up a fight whilst they still had the chance to get back into the game with Jack Harrison one of the main culprits for failing to keep focus on the challenge ahead.
How did Jack Harrison get on vs Arsenal?
After scoring the opener in the impressive 4-2 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers ahead of the international break, Leeds supporters would have been hopeful that he could pick up where he left off by positively influencing the attacking threat this afternoon.
Over his 85-minute performance, however, the £50k-per-week dud lost 100% of his duels, made just 16 accurate passes, lost possession of the ball 11 times and failed to make a single tackle throughout – proving that he was merely a passenger in the defeat.
In fact, Harrison was blasted by LeedsLive writer Beren Cross who claimed that the 26-year-old was "asleep" for the second goal scored by Ben White in the opening minutes of the second half:
"Martinelli gets by Ayling with far too much ease and clips a simple ball into the far post. Harrison asleep and White ghosts in for an easy finish."
Gracia has had to deal with a revolving door situation with injuries as Luis Sinisterra and Rodrigo recently became available for selection whilst Maximilian Wober, Tyler Adams and Wilfried Gnonto have picked up issues, so the manager hasn't had the opportunity to really get his best starting eleven playing together.
Alas, the recently appointed manager will need to find timely solutions and the winning formula needed to earn crucial points consistently over the coming fixtures as Leeds are rapidly running out of opportunities to keep their survival hopes in their hands.