Despite missing seven first team players through injury, Arsenal once again claimed North London bragging rights with a hard-fought 0-1 away win in N17.
The weeks leading up to the fixture had seen a series of bad news hit the Gunners, with new signing Riccardo Calafiori and later captain Martin Odegaard suffering injures whilst away on international duty. Joining fellow midfielder Mikel Merino, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Declan Rice on the absence list, the latter of course out through suspension.
As a result, few were certain on what Arsenal’s midfield would look like come derby day, and those questions were answered when the team news was announced, Jorginho came in for his first start of the season for Arsenal, Thomas Partey would partner the Italian in the middle of the park, and Leandro Trossard would operate as more of a traditional number ten style player, but would line-up alongside Kai Havertz in a 4-4-2 shape when out of possession. Which in this particular game, was set to be often.
Predictly, Spurs started strongly, with David Raya called into action early on to deny Dejan Kulusevski from close range. Arsenal began to grow into the game though and despite sitting deep and allowing Spurs to have most of the ball, they would see good chances on the break, with the biggest of which coming when Trossard set Gabriel Martinelli through. However the Brazilian’s effort wasn’t powerful enough and was held by Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario. Dominic Solanke, coming back from injury and still awaiting his first Spurs goal, also came close towards the end of the half as his looping header just went wide of David Raya’s post as a fairly even half came to a close.
Arsenal looked comfortable in their shape and had restricted Spurs to just one shot on target in the first half, but needed more of a spark going forwards if they were to win the game. But despite enjoying more of the ball following the interval than during the opening half, they couldn’t properly test Vicario during the early part of the second half. That was until the 65th minute, when a pin-point corner delivery from Bukayo Saka found the head of Gabriel who smashed the ball into the net to give Arsenal the lead, sending the away end wild in the process. The goal was Gabriel’s 15th in the Premier league, the highest amount by a centre-back in the whole division since he signed for Arsenal back in 2020. The assist for Saka was also already his fourth of the season, the most by any player in the division so far during the first four games.
Now needing an equaliser, Spurs huffed and puffed but just couldn’t find a way past a strong Arsenal defence. Crosses either were overhit and went out of play or found the grateful arms of Raya, and any shots taken were blocked by a black shirt as Arsenal looked to hold on for a fabulous victory. Late cramp for Saka saw 17 year-old Ethan Nwaneri come on, whilst Raheem Sterling also entered the pitch for his Arsenal debut since his deadline day loan move from Chelsea.
Despite all their possession, Spurs failed to find an equaliser, with the closest they came during the late stages was an effort from the edge of the area by Kulusevski which went just over the crossbar. The final whistle went at the end of the five added minutes and Arsenal claimed a superb victory to move within two points of Manchester City before the big clash between the two at the Etihad the following weekend.
Before that though, the UEFA Champions League returns as Arsenal travel to Italy to face Atalanta B.C
Player Ratings:
David Raya: 8 – Continuing his fine start to the season with another clean sheet
Ben White: 6 – Spend much of the first hour or so off the pace somewhat, unlike the White we’re used to, but picked things up towards the end to help defend the lead
William Saliba: 8 – Superb once again, picked up an early booking but that didn’t face the fantastic Frenchman who came to Arsenal’s rescue on multiple occasions
Gabriel: 9 – Matchwinner at one end, a complete rock at the other. The Brazilian was superb defensively with some key tackles and blocks and of course scored the vital winner
Jurrien Timber: 8 – Another strong performance from the Dutchman with this probably being his best in an Arsenal shirt so far, strong defensively and linked up well with Martinelli going forwards
Jorginho: 7 – Forced to play 95 minutes due to a lack of numbers in midfield and whilst he did get caught both on and off the ball at times, his commitment has to be commended as he kept going until the end to captain Arsenal to a superb win
Thomas Partey: 7 – Sloppy at times, as he often can be, but was still the main man in the middle for Arsenal who kept things moving throughout
Leandro Trossard: 6 – Like Partey, often was sloppy on the ball but put in a lot of work off it
Bukayo Saka: 7 – More quiet than usual but got the crucial assist with a superb corner, worked hard defensively too
Gabriel Martinelli: 7 – Sometimes wasteful in the final third but completed mutkple dribbles and worked incredibly hard defensively
Kai Havertz: 8 – No goal but a real selfless performance, worked so, so hard and held the ball up really well