London. Anger hung like a thundercloud over the Tottenham Stadium after the final whistle.
Antonio Conte stood by as his team repeated the same mistakes we’ve seen countless times this season.
Arsenal? They are walking.
Erling Haaland with all the glory, but the hottest Norwegian player in the Premier League right now is Martin Odegaard.
When the Arsenal midfielder was given space to shoot from just outside the penalty area – a shot just beyond the reach of Hugo Lloris – Mikel Arteta blasted into the cheers from the far crowd’s corner.
The coach again held on to the first goal, a keeper patch by Lloris. The ball was controlled by Ryan Sessegnon, but certainly the Frenchman should have done a lot better.
This is not the first time the thought has been shocked.
Ramsdell completed the tasks
Odegaard’s 2-0 goal was clearly what Arteta needed to properly unleash the joy. Arsenal defended deeply when needed and dominated the first half with an iron fist.
Tottenham showed almost no positive trends. Apart from the position of Son Heung-min and Harry Kane, when goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdal completed his duties better than Lloris in the 14th minute of the match.
Jamie Carragher said the other day that Liverpool should consider themselves lucky to have a goalkeeper like Alisson, otherwise the team would have fallen even further. In the case of Tottenham, it is often the other way around. Lloris has been responsible for some skilful saves later on, but the London club’s constant leakage early in matches is one of its biggest problems.
Spurs released the handbrake
The home team was expected to show more frenzy after the break. The handbrake is usually released after a while. But it’s something that doesn’t feel quite natural with Tottenham, despite Dejan Kulusevski doing what he can be the creative force going forward. Many of his starting teammates lack the ability to push the ball up and build plays. Then it doesn’t help that Kulusevski, Kane and Son form the front line.
Arsenal does not have this problem. Honestly, they have absolutely no worries. They are the definition of a team, a team in which the technical qualities are distinctive while there is tangible weight. Front line kids drop when needed, push high when needed. Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka both played big brother roles, a vital part of coming out of the derby emotionally and physically alive.
Arsenal acted as league leaders
The season is only halfway through, but seeing Manchester City perform worse as a team than last year raises once again the idea that Arsenal could be very good. As a group, Arteta’s men are arguably good enough.
The atmosphere at Tottenham became more and more toxic as the derby went on, which of course meant that Aaron Ramsdale was enjoying himself. A frustrated spectator took a kick at the goalkeeper in the dying seconds of the match.
These are two clubs from the same part of London in two very different locations. Both are pure and table wise. Arsenal arrived as the league leader, and behaved like the league leaders.
