The spotlight was firmly on Nicolas Pepe as Mikel Arteta named him in the starting XI for just the second time this season. Willian's form faded away, Alex Lacazette was dropped to accommodate Auba centrally.
All the chips were falling in place against a convenient opponent for Pepe, only for the man himself to get dragged into a provocation and get sent off. His former manager Freddie Ljungberg cut a upset figure in Sky Sports studios.
"He stops his own progress with his own behavior. He looked frustrated. I thought this game would be very good for Pepe. Leeds play man against man, he would get isolated with the left-back: he can do it, he's very good at that. I thought he'd be a match winner today, instead it ended like this," Freddie Ljungberg told Sky Sports.
We fear that Pepe's banishment from the first team may not be limited to just 3 games as Arteta takes disciplinary issues very seriously. On the other hand, as someone rightly pointed out, Pepe is available for Europa League selection. So we'll find out just in how much trouble he is with Arteta this Thursday already.
