Arsenal won the biggest North London Derby in recent memory with a 2-3 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium despite a nervy ending.
For team news, Mikel Arteta unsurprisingly opted to name an unchanged XI from the impressive 5-0 win over Chelsea in midweek. Thomas Partey started in midfield alongside Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard, starting two Premier League games in a row for the first time since August. As for Tottenham, Destiny Udogie’s absence meant Ben Davies started at left-back.
Perhaps expected due to the magnitude of the occasion and the atmosphere by the home fans, Arsenal started shaky in possession and gave the ball away in dangerous areas a couple of times with Tottenham dominating the early possession of the ball. Despite that, it would be the Gunners who would draw the first blow of the derby as a great delivery from Bukayo Saka from a corner was headed into his own net by Pierre-Emile Hoijberg to give Arsenal a 0-1 advantage on the 15th minute.
However, it looked lien that lead would be gone just a few minutes later as a deflected effort from Pedro Porro fell straight into the path of Mickey Van De Ven who made no mistake from close range. However, a VAR check saw the goal eventually ruled out as the Dutchman was ruled offside.
And for Tottenham fans things went down bad to worse soon after as a rapid counter attack from Arsenal saw Kai Havertz spray a long pass to Bukayo Saka who after cutting inside onto his left foot stroked home past Guglielmo Vicario to double his side’s lead. Soon after, Spurs had a massive chance to reduce the advantage of their North London rivals as Christian Romero hit the post from a corner as the warning signs showed once again for Arsenal.
Arsenal however weren’t done at 0-2 for the first half as another corner was swung into the Tottenham box and this time it was Havertz who headed in to send the Arsenal fans into delirium as they celebrated going 0-3 up at the home of their bitter rivals with the half-time interval still to come.
That interval came and went with Pape Sarr coming on for Hoijberg as Spurs looked for a root back into the contest. The first big chance of the second half however would fall to Arsenal as a cross from Havertz found Saka who’s volley was well saved by the feet of Vicario. However, with just over an hour played and all seeming comfortable, a poor pass from David Raya presented Romero with a golden opportunity and the Argentinian cooly slotted away the chance to make it 1-3 out of nothing.
The Spanish keeper responded well though, helping claim multiple Spurs crosses as Arsenal looked to see the game out. Although, a swing of a leg from Declan Rice caught a Spurs man with just over five minutes of normal time to play and Spurs were given a penalty and a chance to really heighten Arsenal nerves. Heung-Min Son smashed in the spot kick and suddenly the Spurs fans began to believe. Mikel Arteta demanded calmness from
his players as Arsenal entered the biggest ten minutes of football they’ve played all season.
They managed those minutes well, and the final whistle was blown to spark wild celebrations as the Arsenal team ran to the away end to celebrate. Winning the North London Derby means everything, and even though Arsenal weren’t at their best, the result is all that matters.
The next game for Arsenal sees them take on AFC Bournemouth in an early kick-off at Emirates Stadium.
Player Ratings:
David Raya: 6 – Was excellent apart from a really bad error to gift Spurs a goal
Ben White: 7 – Solid as usual
William Saliba: 7 – Same as White
Gabriel: 8 – Brilliant all day and was very smart to make sure Van De Ven’s goal was offside
Takehiro Tomiyasu: 6 – Looked rusty and shaky at times but did ok overall
Thomas Partey: 7 – Was caught on the ball a few times but was mostly very good at the base of Arsenal’s midfield
Martin Odegaard: 6 – Wasn’t the captain’s best day on the ball but worked very hard off it
Declan Rice: 7 – Covered every blade of grass possible
Bukayo Saka: 8 – A superb goal and tore Davies to shreds all day
Kai Havertz: 9 – The king of North London who scored, assisted and was brilliant both on and off the ball
Leandro Trossard: 7 – Wasn’t seen much going forwards but was excellent at helping out defensively