Arsenal rely on defence and set-pieces again to revive title bid

Football writer Alex Keble analyses Arsenal's 2-1 home win over Tottenham Hotspur in Wednesday's north London derby. 

It was the kind of evening where the performance takes a back seat and the nagging concerns can be ignored. All that mattered was victory, three points, and a rousing atmosphere to get 2025 up and running.

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Three consecutive matches without a win in all competitions had left Arsenal’s 2024/25 campaign in the balance, but another sturdy defensive performance was enough to secure a deserved 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium.

It could kickstart their title challenge, not because the performance was especially different but because players and supports were in unison, the atmosphere lifted to levels we haven’t seen since the Gunners’ title tilt last season.

The top four

Position Pos	Club	Played Pl	GD	Points Pts
1	Liverpool LIV	20	+28	47
2	Arsenal ARS	21	+22	43
3	Nott'm Forest NFO	21	+10	41
4	Newcastle NEW	21	+15	38

See full table

Spurs, on the other hand, are now closer to the bottom three than the European places, and have won a meagre five points from their last nine Premier League matches.

The two teams haven’t looked so far apart – 19 points with half a season to play – for a long time.

Morale-boosting win raises hopes of a run

Arsenal are now just four points behind Liverpool after completing the double over Spurs this season, and although concerns remain – more on that below – it was a stirring performance defined by an electric atmosphere.

The Arsenal players took every conceivable opportunity to raise their arms in the direction of the stands and demand more support. The fans duly obliged.

Mikel Arteta has often spoken about the importance of a swell of a noise around Emirates Stadium, knowing that his team need to feed off the crowd’s energy to put together a string of wins like those in the first half of 2022/23 and the second half of 2023/24.

Today’s game, then, could be the start of another such run. Arsenal will need the stadium rocking if they are to knock Liverpool off the top.

Highlights of Arsenal 2-1 Spurs

Arsenal rely on defence and set-pieces – and need a striker

The win was a clear improvement on the 1-1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion and the defeats in the FA Cup and EFL Cup, but as is increasingly the case with Arsenal, much rested on defensive sturdiness and set-piece delivery – to a fault.

Gabriel Maghalaes was the standout performer at the back, his presence in the second half in particular bullying a more adventurous Spurs team and restricting them to zero shots on target after the break.

Myles Lewis-Skelly, too, described as “phenomenal” and “unbelievable” by his manager after the game, helped set the usual Arsenal tone, playing with a swagger beyond his years as he became the youngest Englishman to start in this fixture since Tony Adams in 1985.

Going forward, Arsenal needed another corner goal and for Leandro Trossard’s low drive to squirm through goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, who really should have done better.

An xG (Expected Goals) tally of just 1.42 is less than Arsenal will have expected, not just against an injury-hit Spurs defence but against a team that came out considerably to attack in the second half.

The conclusion, with Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz squandering chances, is again unavoidable: Arsenal need reinforcements up front, as the manager admitted when speaking to TNT Sports after the game.

“The way we performed and played today I think was exceptional,” Arteta said. “I think we made it hard for ourselves because we should have scored one or two more. But the attitude was outstanding.”

That much is certainly true. But for Arsenal to win a string of Premier League games and turn the screw on Liverpool they need a killer instinct in the penalty area.

Spurs improve but Postecoglou is unhappy

Spurs were pinned back throughout the first half but grew into the contest after a typically daring double substitution from Ange Postecoglou created more of a basketball game in the second period.

In the end, what let them down most of all was a difficult day for 21-year-old goalkeeper Kinsky, who struggled to cope with set-pieces delivered under his crossbar, was almost caught in possession several times, and was at fault for the winner.

That’s not how Postecoglou saw it. Speaking to BBC Sport, he was clearly upset with how his side had played and did not believe they would have deserved a late equaliser.

“We could have got something but that is kind of irrelevant to the point that we were nowhere near the levels we needed to be at today," he said.

“In the first half we were way too passive and let Arsenal get into a rhythm.”

Things changed after James Maddison and Brennan Johnson came on for Pape Sarr and Yves Bissouma at half-time, but by then, as it turned out, the damage had already been done.

“The fact we went out in the first half in such a big game and were so passive, it was unacceptable,” Postecoglou said. “And we paid a price for it.”

That passivity is partly to do with injuries piling up at Spurs, but also waning confidence during their poor form. They have now lost 11 of their 21 Premier League games, their joint-most ever at this stage of the competition.

It could hardly be more different to the feeling in the Arsenal dressing room tonight.

The Gunners are back on the up, back in their groove, and – with the Emirates crowd behind them – ready to pounce on a Liverpool slip-up.