LONDON — Arsenal found a way. Sunday’s 3-2 win at bitter north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur came through a combination of hard work, quality and a little luck but Mikel Arteta’s side earned the victory they needed to keep Manchester City honest during the Premier League title run-in.
The Gunners are determined to avoid a repeat of last season when they ran out of steam in the final weeks of the campaign. A cavalier team willing to take on all comers anywhere, anytime lacked the adaptability to negotiate the pressure of playing when the prize is in sight.
Arteta revealed in the build-up to this game that he has sought the counsel of former Arsenal boss Arsène Wenger on how to navigate the “later stages” of a title race. It may not be enough — City will finish on top for the fifth time in six seasons if they win their remaining games — but Arsenal are showing clear signs of handling these occasions with the requisite skillset which serves as encouragement for the future.
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After sacrificing his principles to employ a safety-first, defensive game plan to secure a 0-0 draw at City last month, Arteta spoke about the need to sometimes “leave your ego and your ideology aside and do what you have to do to win the game” to succeed in big matches. Arsenal were similarly conservative here, although this time Arteta admitted that was a product of Tottenham’s front-foot approach rather than a pre-conceived strategy. “They forced us,” Arteta said. “We had an issue with the high press.”
But Arsenal still made it work. And unlike their draw at City, this time the Gunners allied a potency in attack to defensive diligence to race into a 3-0 lead courtesy of Pierre-Emile Højbjerg‘s 15th-minute own goal, Bukayo Saka‘s wonderful counter-attacking strike and a Kai Havertz header seven minutes before the break.
What followed was a reminder that Arsenal’s evolution as a team capable of winning in a number of ways with the sort of authority City routinely demonstrate is very much a work in progress. Spurs had hit the post through Cristian Romero and had Micky Van der Ven‘s equalising goal ruled out for offside on VAR review, but they needed Arsenal to spark their comeback. David Raya gifted the ball to Romero for a simple 64th-minute finish that stirred a malcontent crowd into life, roused further by another error, this time from Declan Rice as he kicked Ben Davies in the box, to give Son Heung-Min an 87th-minute spot kick he despatched.
A frantic finale followed but Arsenal held their nerve for a victory which ticks off one of their toughest remaining challenges. The destiny of the title will definitively shape conclusions, but it seemed fair to at least pose the question to Arteta whether Arsenal are showing a genuine evolution from the team that fell short last April.
“I think so,” replied Arteta. “When you win it’s always the case. Last season we didn’t, because we want to West Ham and we missed a penalty [and drew], and against Liverpool we conceded in the 91st minute [to draw] and then you’re not capable.
“At the end the judgement is going to be based on that outcome. If they got the goal in the last minute to make it 3-3 then we wouldn’t have been ready. The margins are so small. Don’t get carried away with yourself. We want to be better.”
