15 January 2025
Arsenal 2 Tottenham 1
The Gunners welcomed local rivals Tottenham to The Emirates for a midweek North London derby. Mikel Arteta’s side had the chance to cut the gap between themselves and leaders Liverpool to just four points with victory. Things have been going pretty badly for Spurs this season but getting bragging rights over Arsenal was enough motivation to get themselves up for this one.
Arsenal’s players all walked out with identical home shirts on which had on the back ‘Jesus 9’ with a message stating ‘stay strong gabby’ at the bottom. This is nothing short of ridiculous. The striker has suffered an injury popular to the sport, they were acting like he had been notified of a terminal illness with this sentiment. Oh if they could only live in the real world for a day.
Dragusin gave the ball away early on and Lewis-Skelly threaded a ball through to Sterling. He only had the keeper to beat if he got to it first. It seemed as though the winger had caught a glimpse of Kinsky racing out of his goal towards him as the Arsenal winger went into it half-heartedly and allowed the Spurs’ keeper to make a block.
They were knocking on the door again as Odegaard played a sublime ball to Rice at the back post. He laid it off into the path of Trossard, who looked to finish, but his goal-bound shot was blocked by a Spurs defender to deny him. As the visitors struggled to scramble clear, Partey fired off an effort on the edge of the box but once again it struck an opponent.
Tottenham almost scored against the run of play when Spence got down the left wing and clipped a brilliant cross into the back post towards Solanke. Gabriel did well to get there just before the striker to poke it behind for a corner. As it came into the danger area, it dropped to Kulusevski who saw his shot parried behind by Raya at the near post. The Danish winger really should have scored.
The visitors continued to press and as The Gunners half-cleared the ball, it dropped to Son on the edge of the box. His first-time volley took a slight deflection and nestled into the bottom corner of the goal. The Emirates fell silent apart from the contingent of Spurs’ fans who had made the short trip across North London.
You will struggle to find a club or fanbase more focused on corners than Arsenal. Rice swung in a deep cross into the box and Gabriel headed it across goal from the byline. It took a deflection off Solanke and ended up in the back of the net. The defender tried to claim the goal but it was swiftly taken off him as soon as anyone saw the replay.
The Emirates erupted as they managed to draw level in the game. Arteta’s side started to pin the visitors into their own half. Partey then won the ball back on the halfway line and Odegaard advanced through the middle. He laid it off into the path of Trossard who made a beeline towards the Tottenham goal.
As the Belgian got into the box, he fired a left-footed shot towards the far corner. It is not a goal that Kinsky will want to see again. The effort seemed to go through the keeper and it really was something that he should have been saving. The stadium was bouncing as The Gunners had completely turned the game around in the space of four minutes.
After the interval, Arsenal continued to press despite Postecoglou making further attacking changes during the break. Spurs struggled to clear the ball and Partey whipped in a cross from out wide. It was inch-perfect onto the head of an unmarked Havertz but his header was straight at Kinsky in the Tottenham goal.
Mikel Arteta has been quite outspoken of late about the online abuse his player has been getting since their last match and it was out of order. However, what the Spaniard saw in this player to spend in the region of £65m on him is nothing short of baffling. Nobody seems to know what the German’s true position on the pitch is, but one thing is for sure, it is not striker.
Considering all the attacking players Postecoglou brought on at the interval, they created nothing in the way of opportunities in the second-half. Not that Arsenal fared much better after that Havertz glaring miss. It was a little disappointing after the entertaining game we had been treated to before the break. All that was important at this point for Arteta’s side was the three points.
As the game edged towards added time, there was just no urgency from the visitors to try and get back into this one at all. Porro picked the ball up wide in the penalty area and his cross come shot struck the outside of the post. It was as close as Spurs came to troubling the Arsenal keeper since their goal. Whether the full back intended to shoot was another question.
The Gunners held on for the win and moved to within four points of Liverpool at the top of the table. More importantly, they had bragging rights over their local rivals, much to the delight of the Arsenal faithful. Speaking to BT Sport after the game, Postecoglou summed up his side’s performance as ‘simply not good enough’. The pressure mounts on the Australian.
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