game report – Player Rating – Arteta reaction – video
A difficult week this season has improved significantly for Arsenal as they achieved the double over Spurs, closed the gap on Liverpool and made Spurs sad by beating them. Idiots.
Mikel Arteta handed a rare start to Raheem Sterling, who should have put us ahead early on but strangely halted his run after excellent play from Myles Lewis-Skelly had set him up for goal. I’m not sure what he was thinking. We dominated the opening stage with a few shots and corners and some pressure on the new goalkeeper when Kai Havertz tried really hard to stop him.
But as is typical, our inability to convert dominance into goals came back to bite us once they went ahead in the 25th minute. Son Heung-min’s shot from the edge of the penalty box was deflected by William Saliba, but it lasted about 60 seconds. Pape Sarr had all the time and space in the world to get the ball into our half to win the corner kick that led to the goal, but we weren’t good enough defensively in both phases of play.
After the two cups came out, I couldn’t help but be a little worried. How will we respond? Can we respond? Leando Trossard sent Porro to the shops with a turn that left the full-back in a heap and, strangely enough, the referee stopped play. Perhaps it was to give him a chance to sort out his insides after being so badly upset by the Belgian. But a sharp tackle from MLS eventually led to a corner kick, which Rice delivered and Gabriel was at the back post to head home. Although it was officially credited as Dominic Solanka’s own goal (in my opinion, it was a harsh goal for him and Gabriel).
Just a few minutes later, Partey won the ball in midfield after a good tackle, Martin Odegaard flicking the ball to Trossard on the left, whose buzzed shot bounced into the back of the net just in front of Kinski. It’s one of those areas where you expect the keeper to block, but I think we have to give the Belgian credit for putting up too little of the ball in a position where the Arsenal players could have pulled the trigger. Even on his wrong foot. Sometimes you’re rewarded for trying something more difficult instead of always finding the perfect opening, and that was the case with this goal.
So instead of going into the break with a half-time post-mortem on the cards, we were left in a solid position. They made some aggressive changes on the break and it worked to some degree. We went from 35% occupancy in the first 45 to 55% in the second, but of course we had something to protect.
There were moments when we could have scored again. Two headers from Havertz, another chance from Sterling before he was replaced by Gabriel Martinelli, Rice’s shot at the keeper who knew nothing about it, Odegaard’s chance late on and the little things we could have done a little bit about. It was. Better to cause more trouble on the third attack. But by the 75th minute, Mikel Arteta decided to call it a day. Kieran Tierney came on for Trossard and played ahead of Lewis-Skelly, Gabriel and Saliba were monsters in defense and towards the end of the 90 minutes we cycled through a few changes.
The only moment of danger came right at the death when Porro hit the outside of the post with a shot, but at that point they brought on Richarlison, who seemed more interested in starting the ruck than scoring a goal. In my opinion, this is the story of his Tottenham career. He had more success with one than the other. I don’t think they keep stats for the xR, and this trimmer (erel) has had about as much use as an ashtray on a motorcycle.
I absolutely loved him trying to push Lewis-Skelly off the pitch, while the 18-year-old laughed at him and gestured to the crowd on his way back to the Arsenal bench after receiving a yellow card. I don’t necessarily think this is his coming-of-age performance, but I don’t think we’ve thought or worried too much about his coming of age. And that’s entirely to his credit. There’s always online reaction/drama when a team line-up is announced, but no one raises an eyebrow when an 18-year-old who played most of his youth career as a midfielder is selected to play left-back. For a North London derby of such importance.
He was great last night. Mikel Arteta calls him ‘phenomenal’And his post-match interview with Ian Wright summed up his character and mindset. When Wrighty asked him if he was worried about playing against established senior players like Kulusevski and Johnson, he said:
“Never. Don’t be afraid of anyone. I want to stand up to the best. I want to be the best. To be the best, you have to stand up to the best.”
Isn’t it fun? It’s really impressive for a player who rarely gets into double figures in terms of senior appearances. He plays without any fear, which is common when a young player breaks through, but in a season that has seen so many difficulties and challenges, his emergence has been one of the really positive stories of the season.
Afterwards, Mikel Arteta summed up the night:
I’m very proud of the team, I think we were blown away. I think it was a good test to see two big wins and two other competitions that didn’t pay off. In such circumstances we have to play the biggest game of the season for our people and it will be a test of attitude. You know what we are made of, the courage we have, how much we only care about results or performance, and how much we can do in terms of what is required of us in the game to be better than our opponents.
I think we played from the first minute to hurt them, with or without the ball. I think we fully deserved to win the game. I think we made a lot of people very happy. I’m especially proud to see the team acting the way they played again.
Was it perfect? Is there anything we can still do better? Of course, but what really matters in the context of this week and this particular game is that we got all three points. Especially after Liverpool were held to a draw on Tuesday night. We are still in the breakup stage and we hope that these results and achievements will help heal the connection between the team and the fans, which has been somewhat strained recently. It was a reminder that, despite this imperfect form, this is a team that can and is willing to fight for the title.
As for what else will happen this month after the Gabriel Jesus news, Arteta was asked by TNT Sports whether the club will bring in anyone this month. He said:
Yes. Because we lost two big players. Bukayo could be out for up to three months, so it would be quite a while, and Gabi would be out for a very long time. We will definitely try. It means we are actively looking. I think we lost two very important players. We have 14 players in the squad and we play every three days, so we’ll give it a try, but we’ll see what we can get.
A derby win has eased the pressure, but there will be another big game in the coming days when Aston Villa come to town. But in the meantime we can rest our weary legs, take stock and hopefully strengthen behind the scenes a squad that is still a work in progress when looking at the Premier League table. How much power can a good contract bring? Fingers crossed.
okay. We will be preparing a post-game Arsecast a little later, so please wait. I’ll leave it there for now.
Have a great time!
