Arteta joyful to offer our supporters derby day pleasure | Interview | Information

North London derby wins are at all times cherished, however our first back-to-back successes at Tottenham since 1988 will definitely dwell lengthy within the reminiscence.

Adrian Clarke has solid his professional eye over our 3-2 win in opposition to Tottenham Hotspur to seek out out why we had been profitable this time round, as we continued our push for the Premier League title.

Havertz the hero

Kai Havertz equalled Alexis Sanchez’s report of offering a objective and an help in 4 completely different Premier League matches in a marketing campaign, a landmark set by the Chilean in 2016/17, however remarkably, our on-song No. 29 has achieved that feat throughout his final 13 appearances alone.

His inch-perfect cross-field go to launch Bukayo Saka for our second objective on the counter-attack was elegant in its execution, and the winger’s fabulous end accomplished an ideal breakaway.

Except for scoring our third objective with a header from Declan Rice’s nook (his solely try of the sport) the German’s all-round efficiency was top-class.

At all times an outlet for David Raya and the defenders to hit with an extended go that missed out Tottenham’s press, Havertz labored exhausting to indicate for the ball all through. His hold-up play was glorious, serving to us acquire territory at key moments.

As proven on this chalkboard (beneath) our centre ahead contributed 4 very important clearances from inside his personal six-yard field (proven by the triangles), in addition to linking play in three distinct components of the pitch. Dropping again to assist us play out from the again when wanted, he additionally stretched Spurs by exhibiting for the ball on each wings, holding onto the ball till teammates may rise up to assist him.

Defending our field

Our well-disciplined 4-4-2 form out of possession was exhausting for the hosts to interrupt down, so that they resorted to whipping hopeful crosses into the field from extensive areas. It was the best variety of crosses we have now confronted throughout the complete marketing campaign, with the majority from open play arriving from Spurs’ right-hand facet. 

Raya is assured at popping out to gather hanging balls, and he did so flawlessly on quite a few events.

Our defensive gamers additionally confirmed unimaginable resilience. Compelled into making 19 headed clearances (our many of the season, by 4) the likes of Ben White (6), William Saliba (4), Gabriel (4), Havertz (4) and Rice (3) held agency.

The sport state from 65 minutes onwards, after Cristian Romero was gifted a objective out of nowhere, noticed the Gunners stand up to a variety of territorial stress, but underneath that duress we stood tall, repelling a sequence of harmful balls despatched into our field.

Arsenal clearances v Spurs

Set-piece mastery

Two great nook kick deliveries from Saka and Rice supplied essential objectives, and it’s value breaking down the routine we produced for Havertz’s matchwinner, from an correct Rice inswinger.

As we so usually do, we stationed most of our attackers on the far publish, with Havertz and Gabriel man-marked. Escaping their shut consideration can be key, and the best way they managed it was easy, but additionally sensible within the excessive.

Right here is the preliminary setup with Havertz and Dejan Kulusevski circled in yellow, and Gabriel circled in inexperienced:

The Brazilian triggered the runs by darting via a niche nearer to the goalline, taking his marker with him. Havertz concurrently arcs his run across the exterior because the pair cross over, and this causes Kulusevski to collide with Tottenham’s personal zonal markers within the course of:

Our striker will get a two-yard benefit, looping his run across the stationary zonal defenders to move residence unopposed. In the meantime, Kulusevski was left stranded (circled) a good distance from the participant he was alleged to mark:

It was one other fabulous routine meaning we have now now scored 16 objectives from corners this season. Not since Tony Pulis’ West Bromwich Albion in 2016 has a Premier League staff discovered the again of the online with as many.

Saka shines

Saka delivered one other memorable efficiency in opposition to our north London rivals, scoring an amazing objective and being closely concerned all through. 

It felt as if we tactically focused his duel with Ben Davies as an avenue the place we might take pleasure in success, and this proved to be the case as he always ran on the Welshman. It’s not usually you see a winger obtain essentially the most touches of the ball, however that was the case right here.

As you may see clearly on this attacking thirds chalkboard, we centered most of our attacking consideration on getting Saka into 1v1s in opposition to Tottenham’s stand-in left-back:

Recovering our composure

We discovered ourselves 3-0 up with out ever settling right into a rhythm on the ball, solely having a 28.5 per cent share of possession in the course of the first half.

Mikel Arteta’s message on the break was clear. He needed his gamers to handle the sport by asserting higher management of possession, protecting the ball patiently and making the house facet chase it. This plan labored brilliantly for 20 minutes as we toyed with Tottenham, finishing over 90 per cent of our passes, and protecting the distribution brief and sharp:

Raya’s free go to Romero for Spurs’ first objective modified the dynamic, with Ange Postecoglou’s facet vastly reinvigorated from that time onwards. Compelled onto the again foot, and with a busy latest schedule additionally sapping power ranges, we discovered it tougher to counter with the type of pace that was required.

This place made for a nervy spell, exacerbated by Son Heung-Min’s late penalty, however satisfyingly the staff confirmed nice braveness, resolve and togetherness to see the job via and report a superb, however hard-earned, three-point haul.