May 8, 2022 | Awake & Dreaming

Arsenal took a huge step towards securing Champions League football next season as they saw off an ill-disciplined Leeds United, with the 10-man visitors dropping into the Premier League relegation zone. It was a fourth successive win for Mikel Arteta’s side and one that puts them firmly in the driving seat for a top-four spot before Thursday’s north London derby at Tottenham. But Leeds’ early capitulation was entirely of their own making, with goalkeeper Illan Meslier gifting the hosts an opener before captain Luke Ayling was sent off for a needless lunge on Gabriel Martinelli.

Eddie Nketiah pounced on Meslier’s loose touch to open the scoring and then finished a swift move to double the Gunners’ lead before Ayling’s rash challenge left Leeds a man down for more than an hour. The Elland Road outfit did not have an effort on goal until Diego Llorente headed past Aaron Ramsdale in the 66th minute to tee up more of a nervy finish than anyone inside Emirates Stadium would have anticipated. Leeds applied some late pressure, sending Meslier up for set-pieces, but the fourth-placed hosts were never seriously in danger of losing their lead and now hold a four-point lead over Tottenham in fifth.

Defeat for Leeds, coupled with Everton’s win at Leicester, means Jesse Marsch’s side slip into the bottom three with three games remaining. With Spurs drawing at Liverpool on Saturday, Arsenal knew if they could successfully navigate this potential stumbling block they would head into one of the most crucial north London derbies in recent years on Thursday with a commanding lead over their rivals. The hosts were handed the ideal start when Meslier took a loose touch from Ayling’s pass and allowed Nketiah to pounce for the opener – a reward for both his persistent pressing and recent performances leading the Arsenal line.

Arsenal’s flowing attack toyed with the visitors as Martin Odegaard’s free-kick found its way onto the bar and Martinelli poked a half-volley over, only for the Gunners to be caught out from Leeds’ first corner. It made things slightly less comfortable than Arteta will have hoped for but his side got the vital win they needed before a trip to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where victory will confirm Arsenal’s return to the Champions League for the first time since 2016-17.

Choose three of your beliefs and why they matter to you.

There is alien life out there and even intelligent alien life, some who are somewhat similar to us. There are some earth like planets and I suppose that there will be humanoid lifeforms. Out of those humanoid lifeforms some will be similar to us and I hope we get to meet them. As for non-humanoid forms as well, I do hope we get to meet them and hope these aliens are more friendly than some seen in scifi. Now I do not know this for sure but I am not arrogant enough to believe that in

Mankind will eventually evolve enough intelligently to get rid of borders and made up religions & gods. They will confine such superstitious nonsense to the archives of history and title them as “Do not bother with such rubbish”. It will take ages to get this done as there are a lot of religious fervour in the world and religion has a lot of money and power. But someday, somehow – it will take a few centuries perhaps – we will kill off all your gods and religions.

Humans will travel & explore the various planets and the galaxy. This is something that I wish we could do now. Travel the stars and the planets and explore the nearby solar systems. Go and see those alien worlds and see how the land looks like on then, the plant and animal life. Visit the aliens and see if they are friendly and create friendships with them. Chase a comet or asteroid as the they head out into deep space. “Second star to the right and straight on ’til morning.”

Prompt from 31 Blog Writing Prompts to Break Your Writer’s Block at Hubspot.com