Premier League: Arsenal 2 Tottenham Hotspur 1
Arsenal could feel the heat. Back-to-back home losses in the domestic cups had seen to that. One has pushed them to the brink of elimination in the Carabao Cup, ahead of the semi-final second leg at Newcastle. The other on penalties against Manchester United in the FA Cup was terminal.
Mikel Arteta’s team could also sense opportunity. Liverpool’s draw at Nottingham Forest had seen to that. And so the equation was pretty clear. Manage the occasion against the team they most love to hate. And win to move to within four points of Liverpool at the top, albeit having played an extra game.
There would be a blip when Tottenham, whose recent Premier League form is an embarrassment, went in front through their captain Son Heung-min. What a tonic it was for them and for him, as he negotiates a personally trying season.
But the overall thrust of things was Arsenal pushing out their chests and asserting themselves. They would gain control with a devastating one- two punch before the interval. First they forced a Dominic Solanke own goal on a corner; their 27th in the league since the start of last season, the 10th of the current campaign. And then Leandro Trossard found a way through Antonin Kinsky’s hands; a nightmare moment for the new Spurs goalkeeper.
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Spurs simply did not do enough in the second half; they barely threatened en route to another league defeat – their sixth in nine games. Ange Postecoglou keeps on explaining them away. Arsenal are looking up.
It was quite the scene before kick-off, fireworks exploding and the Arsenal support unfurling a giant tifo: London is red. The home team tore into Spurs from the first whistle, refusing to give them an inch, forcing turnovers high up. And winning corners and free-kicks in wide areas. Kinsky was subjected to an exacting initial test.
For Spurs, it was about weathering the early storm. They had to put their bodies on the line. Arsenal’s intensity was really something. Spurs wanted to build from the back, as usual, but it was difficult to connect their moves up and out. Kinsky had a couple of dicey moments on the ball, Kai Havertz robbing him on one occasion before the goalkeeper dived on it.
The first 22 minutes was all Arsenal; Spurs barely crossed halfway. And yet when they did, the game would turn. The visitors made their mark with a bang. First Djed Spence almost found Dominic Solanke with an outside-of-the-boot cross; Gabriel Magalhães made a crucial intervention. From the corner, when Dejan Kulusevski beat Declan Rice, he had a clear shooting chance. David Raya made a fine block.
When Spurs won another corner, they made it count. Arsenal could only half-clear to the edge of the area where Son was lurking and he did well to keep the volley down. His fortune would be a deflection off William Saliba which was too much for Raya.
What had Arsenal created of clearcut note during the first half of the first period? Only Rice’s touch for Trossard, which led to a brave intervention by Radu Dragusin. The crowd felt edgy as half-time neared. Raheem Sterling, a surprise selection ahead of Gabriel Martinelli, could get nothing going. Spence had his number.
Then it turned again, just as sharply. It was a corner for Arsenal, of course it was; controversially awarded because the last touch looked to have been off Trossard and not Pedro Porro. When Rice bent it over, Magalhães jumped with Dragusin beyond the far post, the ball appearing to come off the Spurs defender before flicking off Solanke and going in.
Arsenal completed the turnaround before the interval when Thomas Partey robbed Yves Bissouma and got Arsenal moving through Martin Ødegaard. It was yet another quick transition. Ødegaard went to Trossard, who dragged a low shot towards the far corner, which Kinsky looked to have covered. He got his arm down and across in time. It was just that the ball bounced and went over it. Kinsky buried his face in the turf. He knew.
Postecoglou shuffled his creative options for the second period; a rare luxury given his ongoing selection crisis. It was just the nine players unavailable here. On came James Maddison and Brennan Johnson; Dejan Kulusevski moved inside from the right. Arteta had been without six players, the most painful miss remaining Bukayo Saka, who was here, leaning on his crutches. Thomas Tuchel, the new England manager, was another interested onlooker. Myles Lewis-Skelly for the problem left back position?
Arsenal continued to push after the restart. Havertz went close with a header from a corner and directed another one straight at Kinsky, although the offside flag did go up. There was a flicker from Sterling, which never threatened to come to anything, and a touch then air-kick from Trossard. As long as the ball was in the Spurs half, the Arsenal crowd could breathe easy.
Kinsky was one of four Spurs starters aged 22 or under; these players are learning in an incredibly pressured situation. He got himself into trouble with a heavy touch just after the hour before getting out of it with a Cruyff-style flick. It is called personality.
Spurs could not make it happen in the second period; Solanke had a shot blocked and Porro went close from a tight angle at the very end but it was Arsenal that had the bigger chances. Rice banged straight at Kinsky while Ødegaard somewhat pushed wide of a post when gloriously placed. – Guardian
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