Nick Ames on his sporting hero Granit Xhaka.
A bad day for Nuno and Spurs.
That’s all from me. Here’s David Hytner’s match report again. Bye!
Mikel Arteta says this:
This win is for the fans. They’ve been incredible in tough moments, when we needed their support. We started really strong, really determined. it was probably one of the best games I’ve seen us play for that period, and in the second half we did what we had to do. [What was important was] the determination, the conviction, the connection with our people, they came here to do what we spoke about before the game.
It’s not about winning as much as the way we did it, against a top team with top players, and on a special day when we played our rivals. Today is one example of what we are trying to do, now we have to be consistent, do it every game and do it better.
A good afternoon for Arsenal keeps getting better:
MEADEMA! 🔥@bmeado9 & @VivianneMiedema link up AGAIN!
— Barclays FA Women's Super League (@BarclaysFAWSL) September 26, 2021
Watch the #BarclaysFAWSL live on @SkySports 📺 pic.twitter.com/lBuohhc5Pb
Those fans who interrupted Sky’s interview with Aubameyang and Smith Rowe have struck again:
Sure enough Nuno has walked away from his TV interview because the Arsenal fans were giving him stick. Don't blame him. Totally unworkable.
— John Cross (@johncrossmirror) September 26, 2021
Here’s David Hytner’s match report from the Emirates Stadium:
Inspired by Tottenham playing host to Anthony Joshua’s world title fight against Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night, Nuno Espírito Santo had used boxing parlance to illustrate what he wanted to see from his team.
The Spurs manager said that they could not throw punches all the time and, when they took one, they had to cover up; to stop the bleeding. Their response to being dumped on to the canvas in the previous two Premier League games – the 3-0 defeats against Crystal Palace and Chelsea – had been nonexistent.
And yet Spurs continued in precisely the same vein. They barely threw a punch during a first-half that they will want to forget very quickly and, once behind to Emile Smith Rowe’s opener, they were taken apart by an Arsenal team in rampant mood.
Much more here:
The White challenge on Kane should have been a penalty, but it was also an argument against the penalty law as it stands. Kane was on the edge of the area with his back to goal, and flicked the ball wide before being clipped by White and going down. There was no imminent goal threat there, and for that to lead to an uncontested shot on goal from 12 yards is ridiculous, surely?
Geoff Shreeves has a go at interviewing Aubameyang and Smith Rowe, but the fans near them have stayed behind to watch, and are shouting loudly enough to make the interview extremely difficult. Smith Rowe does, however, declare this “probably the best day of my life”.
“Dele Alli has had enough opportunities under four managers now, and despite his hard work and running (which deserves credit) has shown he needs a new challenge,” writes Yash Gupta. “The change is midfield after the second half was massive even though we only scored one.” Alli is like the ghost of Christmas future for a few of Arsenal’s promising youngsters. I fear that everything is not right for him now, but it’s not clear how or where he can put it right. I’m still not sure he has to leave, but if he is to stay and to flourish, he needs to work with a coach he really clicks with, which hasn’t happened for a while.
The history boys. Spurs are going to take a bit of a kicking in all quarters for this, particularly given their second-half capitulation to Chelsea last week and their miserable showing at Crystal Palace before that. There is still much writing to be done before the story of the season is complete, but I think it’s clear that those three initial 1-0s were a much less accurate reflection of the team than the three games that have followed them.
2 - Tottenham are only the second team in Premier League history to win their first three games of a season and then lose the next three, after Everton in 1993-94, who went on to finish 17th. Reversing. pic.twitter.com/27ga9CqCIr
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 26, 2021
Final score: Arsenal 3-1 Tottenham
90+6 mins: The final whistle sounds, Arteta raises both fists to the sky, and Arsenal bank three points and several months of local bragging rights!
Updated
90+2 mins: Spurs hit the bar! Lucas Moura hits a shot from 20-odd yards that deflects off Maitland-Niles and loops and dips towards goal, but Ramsdale fingertips it onto the woodwork!
90+1 mins: Sambi Lokonga is booked for pulling Bryan Gil down by the shoulder.
90+1 mins: There will be five minutes of stoppage time, or somesuch.
89 mins: Smith Rowe is named man of the match. It feels like he is almost always man of the match when Arsenal win. “Ronaldo had a great 2008/09 season despite everyone and their mam knowing he wanted to go to Madrid,” remembers Ben O’Connell.
Updated
88 mins: And then Nuno Tavares replaces Smith Rowe.
87 mins: Ainsley Maitland-Niles replaces Saka.
Updated
86 mins: Arsenal have sat deep and let Spurs have the ball for the last 15 minutes or so. They’ve been punished for it once, but they’ve had enough of a cushion for it not to matter (yet).
83 mins: Tierney lashes a shot over the bar from range. “Modric was excellent the season he was forced to stay at Spurs,” recalls Stephen Godfrey.
82 mins: Xhaka limps very gingerly off the field, and Lokonga replaces him.
80 mins: Xhaka is down again now, and apparently in some pain. He was caught by Lucas Moura after the Brazilian was bowled over by Partey, and replays show his right knee twisting awkwardly.
GOAL! Arsenal 3-1 Tottenham (Son, 79 mins)
Spurs are back in the game! Nearly! Reguilon sends a low cross into the area and Spn runs beyond Partey and sidefoots past Ramsdale, who gets a hand to it but can’t keep it out.
Updated
78 mins: “You’re getting sacked in the morning!” trill the home fans, as Spurs pass the ball about for a bit.
75 mins: Xhaka and Saka both go down with cramp, leading to a short stoppage.
73 mins: A lovely little spell from Arsenal ends with Saka cutting in from the right and shooting from the edge of the area. It was a straightforward save for Lloris, but it bounced just before him so he decided to push it away rather than try to hold it, which made the shot look better than it was. Still, excellent work from Arsenal to move the ball out of defence and through midfield.
70 mins: Spurs bring Bryan Gil on for Ndombele.
68 mins: Spurs pass the ball around defence, but with Arsenal always pressing, and eventually Lloris boots it out of play, to wild cheers from the crowd. “Can you recall of a single example of a player who had been kept against his will at the club that didn’t have a sub-standard season afterwards?” wonders Admir Pajic. “I can only think of Luis Suarez in 2013-14. Kane looks a lot like Alexis Sanchez at Arsenal in the first half of 2017-18 so I fully expect him to play that Old Trafford piano come January.” Forcing players to stay rarely pays off, but I think in their decision-making Spurs’ ownership was focused on their own credibility rather than the impact on the player or the team.
Updated
67 mins: Then Arsenal win the ball, keep it for a while, and Skipp earns the day’s first booking for taking down Partey in his desperation to win it back.
64 mins: Spurs have had more than 70% of the ball in the last 10 minutes. Given that they’ve twice scored after ripping them apart on the break this isn’t necessarily bad news for Arsenal, of course.
62 mins: Spurs so nearly get back in the game! It’s a long ball forward from inside Tottenham’s half, and he gets past Tomiyasu, runs onto it and lifts it past Ramsdale but also just past the far post!
61 mins: Kane’s low shot looks to be going narrowly wide but Ramsdale dives to palm it away and it looks like it’s rolling to Son until Tomiyasu slides in to cut it off.
Updated
60 mins: Spurs win a free kick on the left, and after a lengthy build-up while their players get forward and position themselves, Son dumps it straight into the arms of Ramsdale.
56 mins: Another penalty shout, but at the other end, after White makes contact with Kane. The referee puts his whistle to his lips, then takes it away again. It would have been a really stupid penalty to give away, but it did look like a penalty to me (and Gary Neville).
Updated
54 mins: There will be no penalty. It was a decent chance for Arsenal, after Aubameyang was picked out by Odegaard’s excellent cross.
53 mins: A big shout for a penalty, after Sanchez is first to Aubameyang’s header, leaving Partey on the floor.
Updated
52 mins: Another break from Arsenal, but this time Tomiyasu’s cross is deflected behind for a corner.
48 mins: Nothing much has happened since the restart, which is probably good news for the visitors. “Attributing Kane’s lackluster performance to a phantom injury is clutching at straws,” says Ted Graves. “He’s stuck back on his middling team and his motivation is dwindling. Couple that with the fact that even his attempts to pick it up are at the moment resulting in stuff like nicking the ball off Saka and then sliding it right back into his path.” Also, Siddhant Lazar points out that Antonio is now a fully-fledged Jamaica international, so he isn’t in competition with Kane either.
Updated
46 mins: Peeeeeep! The game has restarted.
Spurs are making a half-timely double substitution. Emerson Royal and Skipp are coming on, Tanganga and Dele Alli are not.
“Kane looks… not very good,” says Joseph Harvey. “Perhaps he’s carrying an injury? Regardless, calling him up for England over Antonio would be a travesty.” Particularly as Kane now appears to be a midfielder so isn’t in competition with Antonio.
Half time: Arsenal 3-0 Tottenham
45+1 mins: Ndombele and Reguilon exchange passes, freeing the midfielder to run towards the Arsenal area. This might well be the best few seconds Spurs have mustered this half, and the referee is so astonished by it he immediately blows his whistle for half-time, to Reguilon’s evident disgust.
Updated
44 mins: Spurs pass the ball across the backline, just inside their half. Ahead of them, the front three are on the edge of the penalty area. Ndombele goes up to join them. The two full-backs push up on the flanks. They thus have six players in a line on the edge of the Arsenal penalty area, three players passing among themselves in their own half, and really no way of getting the ball from one group to the other.
Updated
42 mins: The cameras linger on poor Nuno Espirito Santo, who looks troubled. If it helps, Spurs have looked brighter these last few minutes.
38 mins: Spurs win a corner, and Kane heads it wide from 15 yards.
Updated
36 mins: This will be the first league game of the season in which Spurs will trail at half time. They are generally a better first-half team than second-half team, which isn’t encouraging.
Bukayo Saka (20y & 21d) is the youngest Englishman to score a league goal for Arsenal against Spurs since Stewart Robson at Highbury in April 1984 (19y & 167d).
— Harvey Downes (@HarveyDownes92) September 26, 2021
GOAL! Arsenal 3-0 Tottenham (Saka, 34 mins)
Arsenal break again. Saka runs down the right, cuts infield and tries to pass across to Aubameyang. But Kane has sprinted back in an attempt to make amends for his mistake and he slides in, cuts out the pass and deflects it back into the path of Saka, who sidefoots across Lloris and in!
Updated
34 mins: Oh, Harry. Ndombele passes infield to Kane, lurking in his now-customary position 45 yards from goal, but he can’t decide what to do with it and in the end is so confused he falls over. Arsenal take possession ...
Neville: "Everything is absolutely perfect about this counter-attack" 👏
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 26, 2021
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang finishes off a fine team move and Arsenal have a commanding lead against Tottenham!
📺 #ARSTOT on Sky Sports PL
📲 https://t.co/AmympGmLP2 pic.twitter.com/BxQqUALzQV
30 mins: Hojbjerg did in fact get in front of Xhaka to reach the Ramsdale pass first, but he was more interested in attempting to win a cheap free-kick than in keeping possession, and when the referee ignored his fall his team was in trouble.
29 mins: Ramsdale’s poor pass was instrumental there. Immediately four Spurs players sprung forward, hoping to profit from a high turnover, but when there was no turnover they were all out of position and all it took was one good forward pass and one first-time flick to fillet Tottenham like a hapless haddock.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Tottenham (Aubameyang, 28 mins)
... and 20 seconds later the ball is in the net! Tierney passes upfield to Aubameyang, who turns it round the corner for Smith Rowe, who flies down the left before pulling back to Aubameyang, whose first time shot bounces in at the far corner!
Updated
27 mins: Ramsdale tries to play Xhaka into trouble, but he holds off his man well, turns and keeps the ball ...
24 mins: Harry Kane has his first shot of the day, which leaves his boot about 35 yards from goal and never gets significantly closer. Goal kick.
23 mins: Son’s shot from an acute angle is turned round the post, and from the corner Tanganga completely miscues a header from wide of the near post. Goal kick.
22 mins: It ends with Moura passing to Son, just outside the area, whose backheel flick to Alli was very nearly wonderful, but it’s not quite firm enough and the Englishman is tackled before he can convert it into a shot.
20 mins: Spurs have a little spell of possession. They still have the ball as I type, and are wondering what to do with it.
Average age of this Arsenal starting XI is a shade over 24.
— Mark Mann-Bryans (@MarkyMBryans) September 26, 2021
That includes Partey and Xhaka (both 28) and Aubameyang (32).
Plenty might not trust the 'process' but at least it is becoming clearer what it is.
17 mins: Aubameyang refuses to attempt a defence-splitting return pass to Odegaard and has a punt himself, the ball flying just over the bar.
Updated
16 mins: Save! Another encouraging home attack ends with Saka and Odegaard exchanging passes before the former tees up Partey, whose 20-yarder is pushed round the post by Lloris.
15 mins: Spurs try to do a thing. There’s an absolutely lovely pass from Ndombele to Reguilon on the left, and his cross leads to considerable panic in the home backline, but no chance.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Tottenham (Smith Rowe, 12 mins)
And Arsenal cap an impressive opening with a goal! Saka gets into the area on the right and rather scuffs a square pass, into a good area rather than aimed at any individual I think, but Smith Rowe ghosts at pace from the left into the centre of the area and times his arrival perfectly to run onto the ball and turn it in from 10 yards.
Updated
11 mins: Arsenal have had 64% of possession so far, and Spurs have accomplished very little.
9 mins: Ben White really is tremendously suntanned.
7 mins: Save! Arsenal break, and Tierney’s low cross is sent goalwards by Aubameyang. It would probably have hit the post rather than gone in but Lloris stopped it, and then the linesman lifted his flag again.
Updated
6 mins: Dele Alli flicks on to Son, who for a moment looks set to scamper clear but checks back and is allowed to shoot wide before the linesman lifts his flag.
Updated
4 mins: Tottenham have spent the last minute attempting to play the ball out of defence without, despite having both a goal kick and a free kick, even once getting it more than 25 yards from their goalline.
3 mins: A predictably frantic opening couple of minutes end with a centre-circle handball.
1 min: Peeeeeep! The visitors get the game started.
Before kick-off, a period of applause for the late Jimmy Greaves.
Updated
Out come the players! Pantomime boos as Spurs are first out of the tunnel, cheers when Arsenal follow.
Some Arsenal-related news from earlier today, courtesy of Reuters: Samir Nasri, who scored six goals and created another five in 12 games against Tottenham, has retired:
Former France midfielder Samir Nasri announced on Sunday that he was officially retiring from professional football after a career that started in 2004. Nasri, 34, served an 18-month doping suspension from 2018, an episode that he said changed his way of seeing football. “It was just an injection of vitamins because I was sick,” the former Marseilles, Arsenal and Manchester City player, whose career effectively ended last year after a short stint at Anderlecht, told Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper. He scored five goals for France and picked up 41 caps between 2007 and 2013.
Mikel Arteta has a chat with Geoff Shreeves:
You have to manage the emotional part of the game. You have to show the right passion, as well as using the brain. Be cool, be clear when the game requires. It’s just a game that both teams come into with honesty, with their own idea, and then the ball starts to roll and anything can happen. I don’t think what happened in the past matters.
Nuno Espirito Santo is asked by Sky’s Geoff Shreeves how important he thinks tactics will be. What kind of question is this? How would anyone who has ever seen football think it worth asking? And of all people, worth asking a coach? This is one of the most puzzling moments of my football-watching career. For what it’s worth, Nuno thinks “tactics is always important” and also that “it would be absurd for me to share my gameplan with you”. Then he’s asked how important mentality will be (“It’s important”) and the interview ends, before Shreeves can ask him how important kicking the ball is.
Arsenal fans greeting the Tottenham team coach with the traditional friendly welcome hand gestures here.
Here’s PA Media’s reaction to the team sheets:
Granit Xhaka returned from suspension and came straight back into the Arsenal starting line-up for the north London derby against Tottenham. The Switzerland captain was sent off in Arsenal’s 5-0 defeat at Manchester City before the international break but was recalled as the only change from the side that won at Burnley last weekend.
Tottenham head coach Nuno Espirito Santo made three alterations from the 3-0 loss to Chelsea last week, with two coming in defence. Japhet Tanganga returned at right-back with Davison Sanchez restored at centre-back and Lucas Moura replacing Giovani Lo Celso.
The teams!
Today’s starting line-ups look like this:
Arsenal: Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Tierney, Thomas, Smith-Rowe, Odegaard, Xhaka, Saka, Aubameyang. Subs: Leno, Lacazette, Maitland-Niles, Holding, Cedric, Pepe, Tavares, Sambi Lokonga, Martinelli.
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Tanganga, Sanchez, Dier, Reguilon, Ndombele, Hojbjerg, Alli, Lucas Moura, Kane, Son. Subs: Romero, Gil Salvatierra, Emerson, Rodon, Lo Celso, Gollini, Skipp, Davies, Scarlett.
Referee: Craig Pawson.
🚨 Your NLD team news...
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) September 26, 2021
🏴 @AaronRamsdale98 in goal
🇬🇭 @Thomaspartey22 starts
🇬🇦 @Auba leads the line!
🔴 COME ON YOU GUNNERS! pic.twitter.com/kabrwJOdEi
✊ Your North London Derby XI. pic.twitter.com/MsUrstgozT
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) September 26, 2021
Hello world!
Well then. Successive 1-0 wins over Norwich and Burnley have cleared some of the stench of crisis away from Arsenal – although they are the only team this season to have scored only once against Norwich, and really beating them only 1-0 at home is not far off a sacking offence in itself – but defeat in the north London derby would do nothing for Mikel Arteta’s waning popularity. Tottenham’s season has had precisely the opposite trajectory – it started with a run of 1-0 wins and then went downhill – but having lost their last two league matches 3-0 to Crystal Palace and Chelsea a third reverse on the spin and in this of all fixtures would completely kill off whatever momentum they had gathered back in August. This would be a fascinating game even if it wasn’t a North London derby, which happily it is. I’m not entirely sure this will be a good match, but I’m pretty certain it will be an interesting one. Welcome!
