Arsenal beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 in a Premier League match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London last Sunday. It was Arsenal’s third win in four matches in Premier League this season. Arsenal is now in the second position in the league table with 10 points from four matches, while Tottenham is 13th with four points in the same number of matches.
However, it was a match that Tottenham mostly dominated. Spurs had 64% ball-possession and had 16 shots at Arsenal’s goal compared to the latter’s seven. Still, the Gunners’ ability to grind out a result remains a very useful quality.
Gabriel Header Gives Arsenal Win
Gabriel scored the only goal of the match with a header from a corner to guide the visitors to a victory. Tottenham, however, impressed with its adventurous and entertaining playing style once again. The game was littered with long forward passes and through balls that repeatedly set Brennan Johnson, the right winger, free. Johnson and Pedro Porro attacked a lot through the right, but failed to make much impact inside the opposition penalty box.
Dejan Kulesevski also tried to break through the Arsenal defence repeatedly with his runs down the middle and James Maddison kept playing crosses into the box. However, Arsenal’s back-four remained solid throughout, with both Gabriel and William Saliba being exceptional at handling aerial balls.
Son Heung-min had a below-par outing and failed to make forays into the Arsenal penalty box mostly. Timo Werner’s introduction in the second half did not do much to improve Tottenham’s fortunes either. Tottenham dominated the proceedings in the middle third, but lacked the finesse and incisiveness in the final third.
In the end, the Gunners held on to register a very important win in the absence of a couple of key players in Martin Ødegaard and Declan Rice. Leandro Trossard and Jorginho, their replacements, did a decent job to help their team to a victory.
Arsenal Has Huge Match Next
Arsenal will face Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium next Sunday, September 22. It is going to be a pivotal clash in Premier League this season, too, as those teams have captured the top two positions in Premier League in each of the last two seasons. Mikel Arteta’s team came really close on both occasions, but was pipped at the post by Pep Guardiola’s side twice in succession.
Arteta will want to set the record straight this time around and has the requisite quality in his team to challenge the Cityzens for the league title. However, for that to happen, the Gunners’ defenders will have to keep playing up to their potential. Arsenal might not dominate ball-possession against Manchester City either.
Still, it should try to keep the Manchester City forwards at bay by playing a defensive game. The likes of Rice, Jorginho and Thomas Partey will play a crucial role in that regard. The latter two actually showed against Tottenham that they are quite capable of shielding the defence against continuous attacks. It remains to be seen whether they are able to keep up the good work against Manchester City.