Penalties, red cards and goals galore…it can only be the north London derby.
Rarely, if ever, a humdrum affair, this latest installment of the Premier League’s biggest derby lived up to the hype as Arsenal ultimately prevailed against a Tottenham side that simply ran out of steam.
Goals for Thomas Partey, Gabriel Jesus and Granit Xhaka made it a comfortable-looking win for Mikel Arteta’s men, who retain their place at the top of the table and kick-off a fiendishly busy October in top form.
Most satisfying of all, though, was the dynamic nature of the performance, with Arsenal at full throttle pretty much from the first whistle to the last. And while there were a few moments of concern in the first half as Spurs found gaps on the counter, the Gunners sheer persistence and force of will ensured any setbacks were quickly overcome.
It’s that heady mix of youthful exuberance and fluid structure that is fast becoming the calling card of this Arsenal squad and its greatest strength. When at our best, teams struggle to keep pace and Spurs were no exception today.
Last season it would have been Arsenal who lost momentum and impetus as their young players ran short of ideas and the more experienced heads allowed frustration to get the better of them, failing to grapple with the nuances of Arteta’s system. Not so this season.
Today, the visitors were run ragged in the wide areas and were woefully lightweight in the centre of the park as the Gunners marauded. The return of Partey to the starting XI went a long way to ensuring that was the case but Xhaka and Martin Odegaard were outstanding too.
William Saliba, as ever he is, was totemic in the centre of defence once more and Harry Kane got precious little change all afternoon aside, of course, for his now customary penalty.
In truth, it was hard to find any fault with how Arsenal performed. It wasn’t perfect, of course, and likely never will be but what’s clear is that the lessons of last season are being learned. In the first half, Tottenham had their chances to score but Arsenal regrouped and recovered such that the visitors never had a sniff in the crucial second half.
Such was our domination that Anotnio Conte threw in the towel come the 75th minute as a host of changes following the red card for Emerson Royale signalled that their race was run. That afforded Arteta to chance to make some changes of his own and some much-needed rest time made available to Partey and Oleksandr Zinchenko, among others.
While talk of a title challenge remains fanciful still, Arsenal are arguably the league’s in-form team and the ones to beat at the top of the pile, a position they will retain whatever happens this weekend.
This derby was all about a step up in quality for the Gunners and a higher calibre of opponent in this fledgling season. It’s fair to say they passed and did so in style. If they can do the same again next weekend, their season really will be up and running.
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