BEVERLY HILLS, March 15, (THEWILL) – The north London English Premier League club Arsenal have not featured in the Champions League since the 2016/2017 campaign, when they finished outside the top four of Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool. Since then, the Gunners have been consigned to the UEFA Europa League as they have struggled unsuccessfully for four seasons to get back in.
Ahead of last Thursday’s Europa League clash against table-topping Greek side Olympiacos, the Gunners’ boss Mikel Arteta, mandated his charges to turn in a decent run of games in the upcoming schedule to balance their season in such a way as to give their push for an uncertain European slot in the EPL a boost and progress in the Europa competition.
The fixtures of matches he referred to included a must-win game against city rivals and fierce competition for a place in Europe, Spurs, sandwiched in the middle of their double header, home and away, against the Greek side in the UEL.
After a comfortable 3-1 victory in the first leg with Olympiacos, the Gunners entered their derby against Spurs with the boosted confidence that led them to a comeback victory on Sunday.
The win, which is the response of the players to the coach’s call for balance, offered a major boost for the side after what must be considered a disappointing Premier League campaign peppered by self-inflicted losses and narrow defeats. This response also points to the journey of improvement that the team has undergone under Arteta and what remains to be achieved, though, the nature of the performance will mean a great deal to Arteta.
The ownership of control in the middle of the Emirates grounds belonged to the hosts for the better side of the match. Largely, this was due to the excellent displays from Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka, who combined effectively to pull the Spurs’ midfield completely out of shape, ruthlessly exploitating Tottenham’s weakness at right-back.
That alone gave the Gunners a major source of dominance. In his post-match remarks, Arteta said that was the plan and their to focus on that channel worked as efficiently as planned to disrupt Tottenham’s own game plan for the Gunners. Consequently, Tottenham’s tactics, where one could even ascribe any to them, were a bizarre departure from the approach that had seen them enjoy so much success of late.
Jose Mourinho, who had aimed barbed remarks at his London rivals pre-match, appeared to have set up his side to sit deep. But, it was a tactic that not only gave Arsenal encouragement but also left Spurs’ much-heralded front-three completely without service for much of the game. As bizarre as that was, it was even unbelievable for how long it held seeing how it starved the attack of service. It was only late on, when chasing an equaliser, that Tottenham changed their approach.
The tactical change immediately began yielding dividends as Spurs’ striker Harry Kane was brought into the game with a more middle-to-forward movement. He struck the post and even had the ball in the back of the net, thinking he had continued his fine form against the Gunners in his most favourite scoring derby. Although his goal disallowed for offside, it demonstrated how different the result could have been if Mourinho’s play was more open.
As usual, the Portuguese manager, expert in the art of pointing fingers, blamed the players for the lacklustre display to the point of accusing some of his own charges of “hiding”. Yet, he must accept a share in the fault-finding. This Spurs performance mirrored how the club fared with him in charge that saw their drop from the top of the table at the turn of this year. That he cannot see how badly it reflects on him to simply point at everyone else but himself for the poor results, then turning the season around in the ten games that remain will be a pipe dream.
On Arteta’s part, he will be grateful for having the likes of strong, youthful and determined players on his side like the effervescent and matured-beyond-his-age 20-year-old Emile Smith Rowe, and the tireless 23-year-old Scottish left-back Kieran Tierney both of whom were superb throughout. Working brilliantly together, the duo completely dominated the left side for Arsenal neutralising Spurs’ Matt Doherty.
But, Tierney’s Man of the Match performance meant he was not content with being a major attacking outlet for Arsenal. He also kept the rejuvenated Welshman Gareth Bale quiet before the Real Madrid loanee was withdrawn in the second half. Again, Tierney it was who pressurised Lamela into the fend-off that earned the Argentine his second yellow to see him join the small group of Premiership players who scored and got sent off in the same match.
The Gunners answered their manager with another win, which ended a run of five matches without victory in the north London derby. Their derby home games have become profitable with one loss in 28. They remain unbeaten in their last 10 Premier League home games against Spurs, after six wins and four draws. And, Arteta is the third consecutive Arsenal boss to win his first home league meeting with Tottenham following Arsene Wenger and Emery.
On the whole, the loss for Spurs is their ninth in the league this season, which is the joint-most defeats Mourinho has suffered in a single Premier League campaign since he began his career in London with Chelsea in June 2004. Only four points away from the Gunners, it will be interesting to watch how both fare in the battle for the Champions League places in the league table.
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