Around an hour later, both teams had finished their warm-ups and lined up to shake hands before the beginning of the match. Arsenal won the coin toss and elected to kick off, forcing Leeds United to defend the North Bank end.
There had been no late changes to the lineup announced by Farke, so Rio was relegated to the padded luxury seats for this game.
Rio glanced at Dan James who had taken his position on the right wing with a serious expression framing his features.
'Don't get too comfortable out there, speedster,' he mused, in good spirits.
"PEEEP!"
The referee announced the start of the game, to which a round of cheering began from the 60,000-strong Emirates crowd.
Arsenal was a titan of English football, a club that had recently re-established itself as a title contender under Mikel Arteta. Until recently, they had struggled in the post-Wenger era, yet somehow their fate had changed seemingly overnight.
