THERE ARE TIMES when the North London Derby feels like it is nothing but an elaborate alibi, in which Tottenham and Arsenal collude to claim the other is their greatest rivals in order to occlude the truth that they are in fact each their own biggest enemy.
The good news for Arsenal is that their recently-rediscovered habit for stepping on rakes remains meagre in the face of the mighty and all-conquering force of Spursiness.
The cost to Tottenham of not signing Ebreche Eze last summer is already of comical proportions: having seen him score a hat-trick in the Emirates edition of this derby in November, Eze today scored twice either side of quietly assisting Viktor Gyokeres’ goal with a subtle piece of effective movement. Remarkably, in the 92 days separating these games, Eze didn’t even register a shot on target in the Premier League.
Advertisement
That stat is a curiosity that can be explained by Mikel Arteta, who lost faith in Eze within a couple of weeks of his first star turn against Spurs. Sky’s pre-game coverage made reference to Eze’s “high-profile error” against Aston Villa in the 2-1 league defeat in December. This error was not the stuff of Titus Bramble lowlight reels, but merely a failure to track Matty Cash in the lead-up to a goal. That this can be deemed high-profile is a reflection of both the scrutiny on Arsenal nowadays and the weighting to which Mikel Arteta gives the defensive side of the game.
On this basis, Arteta should Eze more and indulge whatever defensive glitches in his game. While his finish for the opening goal was deft and acrobatic and he was in the right place to score the third against Spurs’ plodding defence, he dovetailed neatly with Bukayo Saka while continually slipped devilishly around Tottenham’s disastrous pressing game: he was a one-man reproach to Igor Tudor’s man-to-man tactics. The intelligence of his movement and his 360-degreee threat had the effect of giving an added dimension to an Arsenal attack that often looks to be rendered in 2D.
Eze was off the pitch by the time Gyokeres crowned the best day of his Arsenal career so far to make it 4-1, with Arteta and his players cavorting at full-time with the relieved air of pardoned men. This may have been a lot nervier had Gabriel not crumpled so easily to the ground from Kolo Muani’s slight push in his back, and had David Raya not adroitly clawed Richarlison’s flick off his line at 3-1.
For all that Mikel Arteta will feel today’s game was an effective release valve, he will remain concerned at his players’ ongoing propensity to give away bizarrely soft goals. The celebrations of Eze’s opening goal quickly morphed into a team huddle, in which Martin Zubimendi was spotted pointing to his temple. Declan Rice did so more theatrically as the game resumed, and less than a minute later he had his arms raised in apology after the Spurs equaliser.
These ongoing clangers are incomprehensible. Rice’s giveaway today followed Raya’s against Wolves, Zubimendi’s against Man United, and Gabriel against Bournemouth. When players this good and ordinarily so reliable are making mistakes like these, can we attribute them to anything other than nerves and anxiety?
But Tottenham were simply too bad to chivvy themselves back into another position from which to provoke another Arsenal error. Their squad has been brutally depleted by injury, and Igor Tudor didn’t spark any immediate new manager bounce. His 5-3-2 was filled with ill-fitting parts – Archie Gray at right-wing back, Joao Palhinha at centre-back, – and his efforts to press Arsenal high and man-to-man was wildly misjudged, seen most obviously in the comedy of frantic errors that led to Arsenal’s third goal.
Hard as it is to believe, Spurs are only four points clear of a resurgent West Ham in the relegation zone: they are in a genuine battle to survive in the Premier League to next season, and on today’s basis, Tudor is going to fail the basic basement test of making his new team tough to beat.
For Arsenal this ultimately was a therapeutic Sunday, but unfortunately they can’t play Spurs every weekend.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Eze shows why he should have Arteta's backing as Spurs show why they could really go down
THERE ARE TIMES when the North London Derby feels like it is nothing but an elaborate alibi, in which Tottenham and Arsenal collude to claim the other is their greatest rivals in order to occlude the truth that they are in fact each their own biggest enemy.
The good news for Arsenal is that their recently-rediscovered habit for stepping on rakes remains meagre in the face of the mighty and all-conquering force of Spursiness.
The cost to Tottenham of not signing Ebreche Eze last summer is already of comical proportions: having seen him score a hat-trick in the Emirates edition of this derby in November, Eze today scored twice either side of quietly assisting Viktor Gyokeres’ goal with a subtle piece of effective movement. Remarkably, in the 92 days separating these games, Eze didn’t even register a shot on target in the Premier League.
That stat is a curiosity that can be explained by Mikel Arteta, who lost faith in Eze within a couple of weeks of his first star turn against Spurs. Sky’s pre-game coverage made reference to Eze’s “high-profile error” against Aston Villa in the 2-1 league defeat in December. This error was not the stuff of Titus Bramble lowlight reels, but merely a failure to track Matty Cash in the lead-up to a goal. That this can be deemed high-profile is a reflection of both the scrutiny on Arsenal nowadays and the weighting to which Mikel Arteta gives the defensive side of the game.
On this basis, Arteta should Eze more and indulge whatever defensive glitches in his game. While his finish for the opening goal was deft and acrobatic and he was in the right place to score the third against Spurs’ plodding defence, he dovetailed neatly with Bukayo Saka while continually slipped devilishly around Tottenham’s disastrous pressing game: he was a one-man reproach to Igor Tudor’s man-to-man tactics. The intelligence of his movement and his 360-degreee threat had the effect of giving an added dimension to an Arsenal attack that often looks to be rendered in 2D.
Eze was off the pitch by the time Gyokeres crowned the best day of his Arsenal career so far to make it 4-1, with Arteta and his players cavorting at full-time with the relieved air of pardoned men. This may have been a lot nervier had Gabriel not crumpled so easily to the ground from Kolo Muani’s slight push in his back, and had David Raya not adroitly clawed Richarlison’s flick off his line at 3-1.
For all that Mikel Arteta will feel today’s game was an effective release valve, he will remain concerned at his players’ ongoing propensity to give away bizarrely soft goals. The celebrations of Eze’s opening goal quickly morphed into a team huddle, in which Martin Zubimendi was spotted pointing to his temple. Declan Rice did so more theatrically as the game resumed, and less than a minute later he had his arms raised in apology after the Spurs equaliser.
These ongoing clangers are incomprehensible. Rice’s giveaway today followed Raya’s against Wolves, Zubimendi’s against Man United, and Gabriel against Bournemouth. When players this good and ordinarily so reliable are making mistakes like these, can we attribute them to anything other than nerves and anxiety?
But Tottenham were simply too bad to chivvy themselves back into another position from which to provoke another Arsenal error. Their squad has been brutally depleted by injury, and Igor Tudor didn’t spark any immediate new manager bounce. His 5-3-2 was filled with ill-fitting parts – Archie Gray at right-wing back, Joao Palhinha at centre-back, – and his efforts to press Arsenal high and man-to-man was wildly misjudged, seen most obviously in the comedy of frantic errors that led to Arsenal’s third goal.
Hard as it is to believe, Spurs are only four points clear of a resurgent West Ham in the relegation zone: they are in a genuine battle to survive in the Premier League to next season, and on today’s basis, Tudor is going to fail the basic basement test of making his new team tough to beat.
For Arsenal this ultimately was a therapeutic Sunday, but unfortunately they can’t play Spurs every weekend.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Arsenal Comment ebreche eze Tottenham Hotspur