Tottenham 0 Arsenal 1: Gabriel’s bullet header seals crucial three points for Gunners in North London derby
HERE was a thoroughly impressive display of Arsenal’s title credentials.
Just four games into a season in which they might not even have to finish above Manchester City to win the crown, Mikel Arteta’s side entered a seething Tottenham Hotspur Stadium without two of their best players and strolled away with all three points.
Shorn of injured captain Martin Odegaard and the suspended Declan Rice, Arsenal claimed a third successive win at the home of their bitterest rivals thanks to a second-half header from Gabriel Magalhaes.
As in the corresponding fixture last year, Arsenal’s set-piece prowess – and Tottenham’s deficiency in the same area, proved decisive.
Back in April, Arsenal cruised into a three-goal lead here, courtesy of two set-piece goals and this time, it was a single corner which proved the difference.
Tottenham were bold and aggressive, they dominated possession and the shot-count but were ultimately beaten by a calmer, more methodical team.
Ange Postceglou’s men have now lost their last seven matches against top-half sides and the big Aussie’s position will come under serious scrutiny before long if he cannot reverse that trend.
But, with champions City facing trial over their 115 Premier League charges, Arsenal – runners-up in the last two seasons – know that this could be their best chance to land a first Premier League title since Arsene Wenger’s Invincible campaign 21 years ago.
Their first two away fixtures show how serious they are – wins at Aston Villa and Spurs are outstanding results.
Postecoglou’s team sheet was adventurous, potentially reckless, but certainly in keeping with his club’s ‘To dare is to do’ ethos.
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With an attacking front five supported by marauding wing-backs, there was no chance of this Spurs line-up trying to bore Arsenal to death.
If Arsenal had an unfamiliar look it was not just the absence of Rice and Odegaard but the black away kit they were forced to wear after a bizarre edict that their traditional colours contained too much white.
The derby-day spite was ramped up in the tunnel when a lone Arsenal mascot started kicking off at a gang of his Tottenham counterparts.
On the pitch, it was Spurs who started as if the importance of the fixture had been drilled into their skulls.
They pressed and harried Arsenal as if fed on red meat and twice in the first seven minutes, Dejan Kulusevski forced David Raya into decent saves.
First, Son Heung-Min cut back and the Arsenal keeper denied the Swede at his near post.
Then Kulusevski’s cross evaded everyone and Raya was forced into a sprawling stop.
Arsenal had started scruffily, their passing off-beam, but soon they settled.
Gabriel Martinelli, whose pace was causing havoc down the left, crossed and a downward header from Kai Havertz forced Guglielmo Vicario into an excellent diving stop.
Soon after Leandro Trossard released Martinelli but the Brazilian’s shot was too close to Vicario.
The bookings swiftly began to mount up, ref Jarred Gillett strictly following the early-season edict of clamping down on the delaying of free-kicks.
By the break, the Aussie had dished out seven yellow cards – five of them to Spurs, the obvious downside of Postecoglou’s fire-and-brimstone approach.
At times, it resembled one of those mass pancake-day matches between rival villages – with occasional outbreaks of handbags.
In keeping with this, Kulusevski then ploughed through three Arsenal defenders to tee up Brennan Johnson, who skied his shot.
As in the first half, Spurs were at it straight from the restart.
Dominic Solanke, on his home debut, robbed Trossard with a full-blooded tackle, then got on the end of a Porro cross, his header deflected wide.
After the corner was taken short, Micky van de Ven’s header was kept out by a diving Raya.
But Arsenal were calmer, more methodical than their rivals. Havertz led a counter-attack from which they won a corner and scored.
Bukayo Saka delivered into a crowded dancefloor and Gabriel timed his run, nudging Romero out of the way, leaping above Kulusevski and heading home from close range.
The atmosphere was transformed. From bearpit to teddy bear’s picnic. Except for one delirious corner hosting the Gooners.
Soon the home crowd were getting on the back of James Maddison, who chose a poor pass to Solanke when he ought to have shot.
After the horse had bolted, Postecoglou sent on Pape Matar Sarr in an attempt to gain greater discipline in midfield.
Soon, Arteta introduced Raheem Sterling for his Arsenal debut, as well as Gabriel Jesus and the boy-wonder Ethan Nwaneri.
Spurs continued to do most of the attacking and Kulusevski fired over from the edge of the box.