Arsenal edged out a 2-1 victory over Tottenham this evening, closing the gap on Liverpool and maintaining their push for the Premier League summit. Here’s how the players rated in a pulsating North London derby:
Starting XI
David Raya – 7.0
Raya made a couple of excellent saves, including a fingertip stop to deny Pedro Porro late on, ensuring Arsenal held on to all three points.
Jurrien Timber – 7.0
A reliable presence at the back, Timber kept Heung-min Son quiet for much of the match, demonstrating his calmness under pressure.
William Saliba – 7.5
Saliba delivered a commanding display, staying composed in his duels with Dominic Solanke and playing a crucial role in keeping Spurs at bay.
Gabriel Magalhães – 9.0
A monster performance from Gabriel. He was a rock defensively and played a key role in Arsenal’s equaliser, heading the ball that led to Solanke’s own goal.
Myles Lewis-Skelly – 8.0
The youngster shone under the bright lights, handling the tricky Dejan Kulusevski with maturity and maintaining possession with remarkable composure.
Declan Rice – 7.5
Rice was everywhere, breaking up play effectively and dictating the tempo with assured passing. A typically influential performance from the England midfielder.
Thomas Partey – 7.0
A solid, if unspectacular, outing for Partey, though his influence was overshadowed by his midfield counterparts.
Martin Odegaard – 8.0
The captain was sensational, pulling the strings in midfield and assisting Trossard’s winning goal. Arsenal will need him to sustain this level of creativity.
Leandro Trossard – 7.5
Trossard was lively throughout and capped his performance with a well-taken goal. A reliable contributor in the final third.

Kai Havertz – 6.0
Havertz pressed tirelessly and linked play well at times, but he missed yet another gilt-edged chance, which could have put the game beyond Spurs.
Raheem Sterling – 5.0
A poor performance from Sterling, who fluffed several chances and failed to make a meaningful impact. He will hope for better in the coming weeks.
Substitutes
Gabriel Martinelli – 6.5
Martinelli added more energy and directness than Sterling, but his time on the pitch was too short to truly influence proceedings.
Kieran Tierney – 6.0
Tierney looked eager to make an impact and nearly grabbed an assist in what could be his final appearance for the club.
Oleksandr Zinchenko – N/A
Came on late and had no opportunity to leave his mark.
Mikel Merino – N/A
A cameo appearance with little time to make an impact.
Sterling ….. no comment!!
Team play and pressure from Thomas Partey’s excellent recovery leading to the second goal could be something we often need. Such marking intensity and effective/quick utilisation of recovered balls for greater periods is certain to lesson pressure with our defence. Our goals would always be very intentional than just being lucky goals.
Without a persistent form of pressing and in the absence of a consistent centre forward, improved performances going forward can not be easily assured.
Much as this is a personal opinion piece, it’s blatantly biased. It’s rediculous to give Kai Havertz a 6.0. What from? The guy was a buggage of trash throughout the match. You go on and put Rice above Partey, who again and again shows you how to dominate MF. TO PUT HAVERTZ ABOVE STERLING IS ASTOUNDING.
It’s opinion and inherently there is some bias but your criticism is way OTT. IMO Havertz was better than Sterling. There’s nothing astounding about this. The main issue with him again was a lack of effectiveness with his chances. Rice was better than Partey.
You’re absolutely right. Havertz was better than Sterling; he couldn’t possibly have been worse. Partey made some poor passing and positioning errors, although he was still quite good overall. I think his mind’s elsewhere right now.
Where is Partey’s mind at the moment? Wherever it is, looks like it’s always been there.
Everything else considered, isn’t there a consistent negativity against Partey no matter how well he performs?
He might have pledged commitment to us, but he might as well actively work on ending his career elsewhere and we replace him with people we think we like.
Jax,
I think that every Spurs player was better than Sterling, and that’s saying something.😂🤣😉👍
Certainly Gabriel was the MOTM, great at both ends of the pitch. Also, fantastic performance by young Lewis-Skelly, certainly he will be a future star at arsenal. Good performances by Rice, Trossard and Odegaard too but was very disappointed with sterling. Not to forget, Raya too had a great game.
Solid performance all round, let’s keep it up. COYG!!! 🙂
That’s why Arteta hasn’t started sterling and realized his loan was a mistake. Pep knew it and maresca knew that as a player he was done! Sterling has had a fabulous career and has won trophies but players careers come to an end. Simple. I’m glad Gabriel is getting the recognition he deserves. Yes since becoming an Arsenal player he has made mistakes but anyone who knows anything about this game always backed him because he’s always shown that and at his age he was only going to get better! My last point is that we desperately need a striker! The league title is still a possibility. I said it some weeks back that Liverpool will drop enough points between now and the end of the season we just have to do our part but we won’t if we don’t get an attacking player in this window.
I generally agree with the player ratings and what a player Lewis-Skelly is turning out to be.
Partey made some great tackles, one of which directly led to our second goal, but you could clearly see his legs have gone as a couple times he didn’t even bother to try tracking spurs’ runners knowing he had no chance of catching them. He’s having a good season and is lasting longer than I expected, ie not having broken down yet, but I expect him to leave in the summer, which is why Zubimendi is on our radar again.