Arsenal claimed a vital 2-1 win against Tottenham this evening, closing the gap on the Premier League summit. The Gunners capitalised on Liverpool’s dropped points the night before, delivering a determined performance in front of a raucous Emirates crowd.
From the first whistle, Arsenal’s intent was clear. Leandro Trossard forced an early block from Spurs’ defence as the Gunners dominated possession and pinned their rivals back. Despite Arsenal’s control, Spurs managed to carve out a threat on the counter, with Dejan Kulusevski forcing a superb save from David Raya.
Tottenham silenced the Emirates temporarily when they opened the scoring against the run of play from a corner, showcasing their resilience despite being on the back foot for much of the first half.
Undeterred, Arsenal resumed their dominance after the break. Their persistence was rewarded when Dominic Solanke turned a dangerous Arsenal corner into his own net, levelling the scores. Just four minutes later, Trossard electrified the crowd with a stunning strike, completing the Gunners’ comeback.

Kai Havertz had a golden opportunity to extend Arsenal’s lead but sent his header wide. Meanwhile, Spurs pushed for an equaliser, with Ange Postecoglou introducing changes to inject life into his side. However, the visitors struggled to create clear-cut chances against a disciplined Arsenal defence.
Pedro Porro came closest to rescuing a point for Spurs when his effort struck the post, but the Gunners held firm to secure yet another memorable derby victory.
The result further solidifies Arsenal’s position in the title race and serves as a timely confidence boost after recent setbacks. For Spurs, the loss adds to a season of inconsistency, leaving them with much to ponder.
Well done boys,
We are going to need a even better performance against Villa on Saturday. They will not give us as many chances as spurs.
Villa and city at home next month are critical games we must win. If we win all our Jan/ Feb games I think we will top of the league in march.
Huge win, we needed to win and we did. Proud of the boys!
We needed that, well done, the extra effort to get a result and be positive on the ball was DEFINITELY noticed!
Huge result after recent performances, it’s a shame the finishing is so erratic and poor, we should have won this game comfortably against a spuds side missing their first choice keeper, centre back pairing and having to chuck in a couple of rookie kids, pretty shit to see them still having a go at the death, we should have won it by the 60 minute mark and took a few off for a rest.
Big comeback win just when many thought it was over! Brilliant performance all round except for the finishing part of course. Anyway attention turns on Villa’s visit next. COYG!!!
Come on you stupid best centre forwards in europe.You should be begging to come to a team like Arsenal
We were miles better than Spurs. Credit to the lads and MA. Let’s turn our season around from here. Maybe we can still catch Pool after all
3 points won which is very important.
Now unto Villa on Saturday. I hope we can get a positive result with our depleted squad.
Arteta should start making progress in the transfer market and get us our striker.
Great win but still have reservations in our attack. We’re not scoring goals when we should/could. Still, we’re closed to Liverpool and I’m happy 😊.
Haverz is working his socks off but he looks out of his depth, doing the job asked of him.
That’s what happens when you try to turn an SUV into a rally racer.
I wasn’t greatly impressed with that second half performance. We needed a third and a two goal cushion, and they went about getting it as though it was as meaningful as lunchtime kick about in school play yard.
I know Sterling has played little, can’t have match fitness, or any momentum, but his nickname should now be Granddad. Chelsea came out with the bands, denied him to everyone else, but put him out to pasture, and the former international star has gone to seed 🫣
The forward line needs reinforcements. Bodies can’t come from domestic loans, maxxed out, we could get 2 euro loans. Loans leaving at end of season don’t have to be clearly better than what started today, but a bit of pace would be helpful addition if we want to put pressure on Liverpool, rather than fight for 2nd in the unconvincing demeanour of todays win.
Yes we won the match but nothing has really changed, our goal scoring efficiency remain the problem. We have to do better otherwise forget about the title.
Funny thing is despite all the moans about Nketiah on this website I reckon he would have finished some of the 60+ chances we have had in the last 3 matches… !!
Good to see Trossard on the score sheet.. Martinelli likely to start on Saturday though – perhaps Trossard on the wing instead of Sterling who looked out of gas
Based on his 0 Prem goals for Palace ?
Exactly what i was thinking
@Dan
He did score against us in the EFL Cup quarter finals. Just sayin…
Whatever the answer is, Nketiah isn’t it. He hardly ever scored for Arsenal and sure enough, he hardly scores for Crystal Palace.
Just checking peeps
We were wrongly awarded a corner so no conspiracy or agenda this game lol
As you well know Dan, the VAR officials cannot change or recuew that kind of decision.
Your making yourself look as if you don’t actually know what VAR can and cannot do.
Who said VAR?
Like the Rice and Trossard second yellow cards ?
As you know VAR can’t change or renew that but fans still said that was enough for an agenda
Sending off players is hardly the same as getting a corner kick wrong Dan and, as you well know, while we probably never see the decisions that saw Rice and Trossard repeated, we will undoubtedly see a wrong corner kick awarded between now and the end of the season.
Completely different scenarios, but if it helps float your boat, go with it.
Like Havertz diving at weekend for a pen ?
I’m just pointing out this conspiracy theory is a myth as big decisions go in our favour as well
Funny thing is, I have a Liverpool mate and a utd mate and they think we get all the decisions and they don’t. We have some humdingers discussions.
Over and over and over and over again. I think we all know your opinion on conspiracy theories and officiating agendas by now.
Spuds got a corner as well Dan wrongly awarded, it’s just that they didn’t score from it.!
My point is mate if all these officials were against us we wouldn’t be getting these big decisions in our favour
@Dan. I agree with you that there has never been this elaborate conspiracy against Arsenal by the football world.
But my goodness, have ever been happy / positive vibe as an Arsenal fan in this Arteta tenure?
It’s like whenever Arsenal do well it pisses you off for some weird reason. So you have to find any talking point to drain all the positive energy at any given juncture.
🤦♂️🤦♂️
A corner is a big decision Dan?!
The referee had no idea how that would affect the game.
HOWEVER, sending off players will affect games, as we witnessed against both Brighton and city130.
I’m sure you will expect to see corners given the wrong way during the rest of the season, but do you expect to see a player yellow carded twice in one incident (Mr Oliver)?
Do you expect to see a player escaping punishment, as the referee (Mr Oliver) didn’t want to spoil the spectacle of the game, yet do the exact opposite (Mr Oliver) while giving the advantage to one team over the other… city against The Arsenal in both cases?
Do you expect to see a second yellow card (which resulted in Rice being sent off, while the opponent actually fouled him and got away with it) for what, at the very most, a tap away in any other game?
In fact, has there been any other booking for kicking the ball away since Mr Oliver decided to spoil the game by sending Trossard off?
The ball has been kicked away in many games, (including ones being officiated by Mr Oliver) but no sign of any punishment.
Corner kicks and throw ins are given the wrong way to every team in every game so what is the point of bringing negativity into a positive win like this.
Lets start with the negative because its nice to end on a positive. It is becoming more and more apparent the fact we have never had a striker for 4 years is negligence and will cost us. With the exceptions of Gabriel (at set pieces) and Trossard (in open play) and not just tonight, we dont have a natural goalscorer, outside of Saka. We attack in all the wrong ways. Tonight Spuds were hopeless in defence and their goalkeeper was a joke and we failed to capitalise on that as much as we should. Thats a worry. On the positive we got a vital 3 points, at last capitalising on Liverpools dropped points. We played (although worryingly naive at times) quicker football. We passed it forwards more and MLS was a hit at LB. We need a striker.
Good assessment. Super impressive efforts considering the game they were coming iff two days ago (helped by comically bad spud defence/keeper). Arteta sounded very definitive on making signings this window. Fingers crossed.
Did Sterling even complete a single driple? No runs either! Every time he slowed the ball down and passed sideways. Great improvement from our captain, just missing that scoring touch
I thought that Sterling was lively against Utd but ineffective last night so his substitution didn’t surprise me at all
Plain for both Arsenal fans and neutrals to see Reggie. Still living unnecessarily dangerously when we should be putting the pressure on Liverpool to crack. Hope the master plan is not to gamble on the remaining crop of fit players being able to ride out the season and crown it with a league title.
I would say naive Joe. We looked lively tonight but we didn’t look classy and in control. Thats where we don’t look like title winners. A striker is needed (but whats available?) but thats only part of the problem.
Good win, think after the son goal spurs never hit a shot on target! We played quicker today and controlled the Temple of the game. We should now maybe start practising defending set pieces, no one was closing son down! too much space I think for a team good in set pieces.
We are hanging in there. We still need reinforcements in January if we are really going to push Liverpool all the way.
We’d have destroyed Tottenham with quality strikers instead of Havertz and Sterling. Havertz is poor and his diving acts very annoying. Sterling was a complete disaster. Can you imagine these 2 playing up front for Liverpool?
A great win and one that puts us just 4 points behind Liverpool. Great performances by Gabriel, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Trossard and Rice. Long may such performances continue but Arsenal do need a striker in this January transfer window. We had 14 shots on goal, 4 on target and scored 2. These figures are not encouraging as regards our finishing and Arteta knows that very well. Reports are that Arsenal are looking at Gyokeres/Bryan Mbeumo/Vlahovic, hope at least one of them come in this window although Gyokeres looks difficult.
I didn’t watch the match. I’m the highlights i saw partey running the back back from midfield that led to the second goal.
If any point in the future i see that partey is starting at rb over midfield I’m not gonna watch that match.
Partey’s ability is only rivaled by Rodri.
Exactly. I told my son if Partey is ever at RB again I will stop watching. Years ago I said if ever Senderos and Bendtner were in the team together I would stop watching. Luckily, Wenger finally realised how bad they were and he moved on from them.
FT and Peterhos, so when there is an injury crisis at RB, who would you play there then ?
That scenario should never happen though HD, it should only occur on a Sunday morning on Hackney marshes!!
But it does happen Ken, like when Flamini had to play LB in ’06.
Partey plays RB only when there is no other option.
Correct gfl.
Good win for our morale boost. It gives us great impetus moving forward.
This is the right time we get two forwards even just on loan and we pip Liverpool from the throne.
I hope we don’t throw away this opportunity by not signing a forwards or two.
Great result and not a bad performance. Football was better, albeit still slow and Odegaard seemed more like his old self. MLS continues to impress at LB and is almost certainly now first choice in the position and rightly so.
I am seeing the usual calls for a striker, and as much as I like Kai Havertz and the many good things he brings to the team I agree with those calls for a natural goal scorer to play as our Number 9.
However, having a focal point of attack only works if the team plays in a manner to elicit the full benefit of having one. This team doesn’t. Very few crosses are put into the box, so why would a striker make a run? Moreover, how are they meant to score it the ball never arrives.
Kai is a good player and could go on to be great but he needs to be more selfish and more clinical. He is tall, technically gifted, and works his socks off but just seems to lack that killer instinct that creates players like RvP.
We need a better finisher than Havertz in the striker position, everyone knows this, but not everyone will admit it.
It’s not all Havertz’s fault though; he’s not a finisher or a striker, but Asked to play as one by Arteta. Same can be said of Jesus; not a striker or finisher but asked by Arteta to be one.
Agreed, Durand. Both players are being scapegoated because they are having to fulfill a specialist role that is beyond them. Jesus is RW and a bloody good one. I’m not sure where Havertz ‘s best position is yet.
In any case, any striker that is brought in will be feeding on scraps unless something is done to change the way we fashion chances. Take Newcastle for example. They get the ball into Isak at every opportunity, whether it’s to feet or via a cross into the box and as a result both he and Gordon and Murphy are having a fantastic season. Our forwards have to contend with being forced into this ultra laborious buildup that makes everything harder, allows the defense to organise and leaves very little space for a striker to operate in.
It would be great if we bring in Vlahovic or Jonathan David this window but my concerns are that David will be brought in and be Lacazette 2.0 because he will work hard for the team but is primarily a defensive striker and Vlahovic will be living off half chances.
Good result, and a better performance than the recent games. 3 points, onwards and upwards.
At last on the fourth time of asking, we took an opportunity to close the gap on Liverpool.
The energy of the team was good tonight, and we won the game. Which after our recent two cup games was very much needed. And well done to the boys for that.
Now just a couple of observations on my part, now I’m not a fan of Havertz never have been and never will be, (A complete waste of the money that should have been spent on a striker), but can you imagine the stick Havertz would have got if he missed the chance that Odegaard missed from Tierney’s pass.
I guess there are different standards if said player is a fans favorite, as Odegaard appears to be. (Just saying).
And is there anyone out there who was impressed with Sterling, he looked way off the pace. And I felt he pulled out of the challenge with the goalkeeper, where had he kept running he could have turned it into a goal for us.
I was totally against us signing him from the start, and nothing I’ve seen him do for us has changed my opinion.
But that said, a very much needed win👍.
DEREK
Can you give any footballing reasons why you are not a fan of Havertz and will never be?
For me, I can say that since Havertz came in, we registered more league wins, more league goals and 89 points last season which is very impressive. We have not also lost against a big six in that time. There is a reason he has played for top teams in Leverkusen, Chelsea, Arsenal and the German national team. He also gave Chelsea their latest Champions League trophy
Freddy,
To be honest he’s just not my kind of player.
I look at him and I wonder what is his best position, It certainly isn’t a striker that’s for sure.
Then I don’t think he’s either a right or left sided midfielder or central for that matter.
I think that maybe his best position could be the number 10, But with Odegaard there his chance’s appear to be very limited if at all in that position.
You make some good point’s regarding the stats, but I believe if we had an out and out striker and better cover for Saka, the stats could have been very similar if not better.
But as I said earlier in my piece Freddy, at the end of the day, he’s just not my cup of tea. I hope this answers your question.😉👍
But you agree, the invincibles was based not just on goals, but the lung busting off ball running and pressing Henry in particular got through – and for a top side to be successful, someone on team sheet has to do that running, pressing, off ball running, not shirking a challenge , which their teammates appreciate the contribution to a successful performance, but fans often don’t get?
There’s been plenty of forwards down the years criticised for poor goal return, but what they were doing, running constantly off ball, or hold up play, contributed to goals for others. Would Gary Lineaker’s amazing scoring form at Barca have been the same, without Mark Hughes almost goalless contribution to the partnership?
Which leads us into who you play with can unlock a player. Would Kai have more goals in recent games – and just one against Man Utd would have been famous winner – if Saka was in the side? Does Saka, and White, end up putting more balls in the box, where others spurn the chance to, and pass backwards to keep possession? Is a Saka delivery more accurate making scoring much easier for the recipient, regardless if it’s Haaland or Havertz?
What position and instructions did he start that Champions League final? 🤔
Derek
I find myself having a bit of sympathy for Havertz lately. The guy is getting bashed for missing chances and sketchy play.
However, he is who he is; not a striker and not a finisher, but he is asked by Arteta to be both.
He has versatility, but he is not “great” in any of those positions; striker, LCM, or winger.
If we get a striker, Havertz doesn’t get into starting lineup.
Durand,
Well the sooner we get a striker the better if that’s the case.
I’m sorry if that sound harsh, but you said it yourself, he’s not great in any of those positions.
It just begs the question as to why Arteta ever thought it a good decision to waste £65 million on him, instead of spending it on a striker.
The decision making by Arteta, is truly baffling. 🙄🤦♂️
I think Derek that what Havertz brings to the team is a hard work ethic that hugely benefits the team and enables players such as Saka and Odegaard to find space and be the star players.
What I would love to see from Kai is this same level of intense team first mentality but with a bit of RvP’s ruthlessness when he is presented with a chance. Sadly, too often Havertz seems too casual or too uncertain when he gets these chances but at other times it can look as natural as anyone.
He is an enigma and needs to decide what sort of player he wants to be before his career passes him by. I like him and think he does so much good for the team but I want to see him do some good for himself, too.
I was surprised at just how quickly we got off the mark and took the game to Spurs who were pretty awful for the most part. The fact they scored first didn’t signal panic mode as I thought we could get the better of Spurs
Again there were plenty of chances but this time the two that were taken were enough. No point going on about the lack of a striker as it’s a well known fact that a clinical finisher would be better placed to finish teams off than our current situation
Skelly is coming into his own. A bit of a hot head but doing remarkably well and was roundly cheered by the crowd- as was Gabriel. Great performance. As others have mentioned, Odegaard looked much more energised.
Suep
The question was asked months ago of who can slip in to our LB role when all are getting injured aon that side.
I mentioned MLS as imo he had shown enough about him to feel that role, which he certainly has when thrown in at the deep end.
I honestly don’t see him staying there and being moved further upfield. I actually see him long term as our DM.
He has the attributes to break up at when required.
Carry the ball when required and has the engine to get up and down.
He showed last light that he may be small but has the physical presence to go shoulder to shoulder with proven prem players. I also noticed he has the ability to read the game pretty well and position himself in good areas and cut things out.
The kid is doing good.
Onwards and upwards
Alanball08
IMHO it would be a big mistake to shift MLS to midfield.
MLS is delivering solid performances one after another, his calm composure is remarkable for his age.
MLS at LB, Timber at RB, and the Saliba Gabriel partnership has our defense solid for the next several years. Why risk that by moving MLS?
I know technically MLS is listed as “midfielder,” but when a player is producing at this level you don’t move them. Arrogance, stupidity, ego, hope, should not lead to changing MLS’s position; be content with what you have, and the results.
I’m a big fan of White who had a great relationship on the right with Saka and Odegaard. What will happen to him?☹️
Excellent question SueP, as I agree White has never let us down.
I just wish we had the problem of White and Timber in every position.
Aah, that is surely too much to ask, Ken1945.
Every time I think that we are getting close, it then gets further away again as players age, get injured or lose a bit of form/edge.
Getting White back will be an important step
Mr D
not saying he will, just stating imo i could see him playing there.
with all his attribute i see him in the future as a Kante type player.
i’m not the manager and have no experience , just my opinion
if he does start to play there then i might consider taking my badges
onwards and upwards
Lurrrrrv Skelly an absolute revelation. had never played left back before first team that makes it even more amazing
He did lose focus for the yellow card, butted heads, needs to avoid that Red mist, though spurs player should have been booked too for diving and feigning injury.
Can’t wait for Skelly in his natural midfield position soon, driving runs his youth set up trade mark – and he has Odegarde through balls in his armoury. A youthful midfield upgrade for Partey, with Timber back to inverted left back where he is stronger,
we might see this soon with Tommy now back for full back role.
MoonGirl,
I can’t agree with your Timber being better at left back. For me he’s better at right back all day long.