Arsenal redo their victory in the North London derby. Dominant during the reception of Tottenham at the Emirates Stadium, on behalf of the 21st day of the Premier League, the Gunners still needed to exert violence to win. Trailing due to the efficiency of Heung-min Son, Mikel Arteta’s men were able to turn things around quickly so as not to doubt for too long. The lack of offensive success remains glaring but that doesn’t matter. In the standings, Arsenal is back in second place and is four points behind Liverpool, certainly with one more match.
Decimated on the offensive level, due to the absences of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus, lacking results at the start of 2025, Arsenal needed character to get the better of Tottenham. In the game, however, there was no photo. From the first minutes, the Gunners showed their fangs with heavy pressing to hinder Spurs’ ball releases. The problem? A recurring failure to score, between a Raheem Sterling out of action for his first start in a long time and a Kai Havertz who is too intermittent. Arsenal were very threatening, but insufficiently killer.
A big sigh of relief for Arsenal
We even believed in Spurs’ little hold-up when Heung-min Son opened the scoring, with a volley at the entrance to the area from a corner pushed back on him, a volley slightly deflected by William Saliba (0-1 , 25th). Tottenham had certainly just gotten their heads above water, but the appearance of the match clearly did not speak for them. Faced with this twist of fate, Arsenal could have become frustrated and demobilized. But the reaction came before the break. Once again, the difference was made on a set piece, when Dominic Solanke extended a delivery from Gabriel into his own goal (1-1, 40th). In the process, Leandro Trossard rewarded a rapid projection from the Gunners with a nice cross shot (2-1, 44th).
The second half was a little more balanced, with Spurs more concerned with the game. However, they didn’t have a single shot on target since Son’s goal, a complicated statistic when you want to win a match. Pedro Porro was still at the origin of a final thrill on the Arsenal cage, finding the post in a tight angle (90th + 4). On arrival, we say to ourselves that Mikel Arteta’s players did not make it easy in this meeting with numbers largely in their favor. Havertz lacked precision or power on two header attempts (53rd, 56th), Declan Rice came up against the Tottenham goalkeeper (73rd) and Martin Odegaard was unable to adjust the sights in a perfect position (84th) . Arsenal are really going to need an effective striker if they are to compete with Liverpool down the stretch.
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