North London Remains Red as Gunners Extend Lead at the Top
Final Result: Tottenham 0-2 Arsenal (Lloris OG 14′, Odegaard 36′)
Arsenal XI (4-2-3-1): Ramsdale; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko (Tomiyasu 86′); Partey, Xhaka; Saka, Odegaard (Vieira 93′), Martinelli (Tierney 79′); Nketiah (Smith-Rowe 93′)
Following the amazing result in the Manchester Derby that was marred with the offside controversy, Arsenal knew that a victory over Tottenham would give them an unassailable eight points lead at the top of the table, but they had to do it on a ground that they had not won since 2014. These records tend to play a part in the mentality of the players but head coach, Mikel Arteta, has instilled some belief in the lads and we play each game with some panache, determination, technical astuteness and of course, class.
Despite being on enemy territory, the Gunners stuck to their slick gameplay and ran Tottenham ragged, so it was no surprise when the away team took the lead, thanks to some good attacking impetus from Bukayo Saka and of course, the generosity of Hugo Lloris. Saka, as expected, was a thorn in the flesh of Ryan Sessegnon, who got the nod over Ivan Perisic, and after some good interplay with Ben White, the winger got to the byline and attempted a shot that had a slight deflection off Sessegnon, and was heading straight to Lloris, but for some strange reason, the French goalie gaffed in the most hilarious way to put the Gunners ahead.
He's a good keeper on his day, but when he wants to make an error, he goes all out.
Arsenal doubled their money with some swift counter attacking play that saw Saka feed Odegaard that drilled the ball home from quite some distance and it beat the Tottenham goalie. That was Odegaard's eight goal of the campaign, which was also his highest goal tally in his career in a single campaign. The captain has really been leading by example this season, scoring vital goals that help get his team over the line, as the Gunners surge for their first league title since 2004.
However, this victory over Tottenham would also be owed to the heroics of Aaron Ramsdale in the Arsenal goal. Early on, Sessegnon made a rare foray into the Arsenal box and cushioned a carefully-threaded ball to Heung-Min Son, who wasted no time in blasting the ball goalwards but Ramsdale was on hand to make a vital stops. There were also the Harry Kane attempts that he dealt with comfortably but the save of the game was undoubtedly the one he made with his left foot when Sessegnon was clean through on goal.
His awesome performances earned him some stick with the Tottenham fans, and when he gave them a piece of their own medicine, they went bonkers, and lost all modicum of sense, as a fan made his way to the pitch and attacked Rammy before he was hauled off by security. This caused an expected fracas with both sets of players arriving at the scene of the crime, but some order was restored and the most important thing was that Arsenal left the Tottenham Stadium with three vital points in the bag.
Up next is Manchester United in what will prove to be a pulsating encounter but we will have a lot of other Arsenal stuff to cover between now and next week Sunday.
Posted in Arsenal, Football, Match Report, Premier League