Arsenal show refreshing battling qualities to beat Tottenham

A wry smile will have undoubtedly crossed the faces of many Arsenal fans when Tottenham Hotspur’s Érik Lamela scored a sensational rabona goal to give his side the lead at the Emirates Stadium. The Gunners have been playing second fiddle to Spurs in the league for a while now, and there was a feeling that the North London Derby was going to follow a similar trend.

But after Spurs’ opener, which rightfully gained much attention for its supreme beauty, something seemed to click for Arsenal, and their opponents seemed to be lulled into a false sense of security. All of a sudden, the home side were playing with more urgency and speed, getting into advanced areas and quelling the danger of Harry Kane in forward areas.

It didn’t take too long for them to find the equaliser, as Martin Ødegaard’s deflected finish restored hope that this derby could be the catalyst for a late charge towards the European places. The English Premier League odds page has placed Arsenal as outsiders for European qualification all season, but suddenly, Mikel Arteta’s team seem to have found a will to win which they could not muster earlier in the campaign.

The winner against Tottenham came through an Alexandre Lacazette penalty, and Arsenal dug in to claim all three points, surviving the late Spurs onslaught which saw Kane hit the post before Davinson Sánchez’s follow-up was cleared off the line by Gabriel. Nonetheless, Arsenal hung on, and showed the kind of battling qualities that have been sorely lacking at different stages over the past few seasons.

The victory was all the more impressive for the fact that Arsenal were without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, whom Arteta chose to leave out after breaching club protocol in the build-up to the match. Tottenham boss José Mourinho would no doubt have been rubbing his hands with glee at the thought that there was disharmony among his opponents, but if anything, Arsenal seemed more galvanised as a result of Arteta’s bold decision

“We had a really strong performance right from the beginning, we created many chances and went a goal down with their first shot,” the Arsenal boss said. “But I love the reaction of the team, we stayed composed and in the end we won the game. Scoring before half-time was really important as it put us in a good position for the second half.”

The challenge for Arsenal now is to ensure they show the same motivation and doggedness in the games to come. It’s easy for the players to be fired up for the North London Derby, but the test will come when they fall behind to lesser opposition and need to muster a similar response to that against Spurs. The Premier League tips might not have been in their favour all season, but there is still time to prove the doubters wrong this season.

Slowly but surely, Arsenal seem to be heading on the right track under Arteta, and perhaps the team will benefit in the long run from the Spaniard being backed when results were not good in the early part of the season. The club have been something of a sleeping giant for a while now, but this latest victory in the North London Derby, and all the battle-hardened qualities it demanded, may just be the spark Arsenal need to ignite a revival.