“I’m not here to enjoy,” Tottenham Hotspur’s interim boss Igor Tudor bluntly declared ahead of his debut in the dugout against Arsenal. That stance certainly will have made Sunday’s north London derby defeat easier to swallow.
After battling their way to parity in the first half, Spurs wilted once Viktor Gyökeres restored Arsenal’s lead within two minutes of the restart. Eberechi Eze notched his second of the afternoon (and fifth of the season against Tottenham) to set up a 3–1 lead which gave the Gunners the platform to soft-pedal their way through the final half-hour before Gyökeres added a fourth.
Arsenal’s Premier League title credentials have taken a battering since the turn of the year, with plenty of justification. Two wins from their previous seven top-flight outings allowed Manchester City to close the gap to just a pair of points.
The nerves continued to jangle in patches against Spurs, but the Gunners ultimately prevailed against a side with far greater issues than their own to record their largest ever north London derby victory away from home in the Premier League era.
Misfiring Gunners Find Their Range
Gyökeres had gone almost three hours of Premier League football without taking a shot heading into Sunday’s trip across north London. It had been three months since Eze’s last top-flight effort on target. Naturally, both had their finishing woes fixed by Dr. Tottenham.
It’s almost impossible to discern how much credit should be given to the misfiring Gunners who found their range when the target they were aiming at is painted in Tottenham’s colours.
Eze seemed to carry a patch of clear green grass around with him, such was the space afforded by an understaffed and injury-riddled Spurs midfield. Yves Bissouma, the fervour of the first few minutes well and truly fizzled out by the second half, was far too easily beaten by the former Crystal Palace star before he was presented with an open net for his second of the night.
Gyökeres produced arguably the sharpest display of his underwhelming debut season with a clinical brace. Yet the figure he outran, outwitted and outmuscled throughout the 90 minutes was the helpless Radu Drăgușin, a player who Tudor surely would not have leaned on had either Cristian Romero, Kevin Danso (or perhaps even Ben Davies) been available. As Tudor glumly conceded: “Arsenal was much better.”
Tudor Searching for Glimmers of Hope Amid the Gloom
Tottenham’s heaviest north London derby defeat at home in 48 years didn’t offer a great deal of positives.
Spurs unsettled their visitors, especially in the first half, with the type of energetic approach which Tudor had demanded. “My goal in the first sessions we made is that we became a team,” he declared. “A team with a right way of going to war, a team who want to suffer.”
The hosts certainly went to battle, racking up a season-high 17 fouls which stymied their nervy opponents to begin with. Yet, despite a 12-day break between fixtures, this desperately thin squad grew visibly weary and Tudor had few options off a bench which included five teenagers.
It was something of a surprise to see Randal Kolo Muani not named among the substitutes. Dominic Solanke had been a slight doubt heading into the fixture and took his place on the sidelines while Tudor’s former Juventus striker showed the sort of form which his boss had so enjoyed in Turin with a crisp first-half equaliser.
Across his 13 matches for the Croatian tactician, Kolo Muani has scored seven times. He managed just three in 27 outings under Thomas Frank. Whether the former Juve colleagues can maintain that prolific relationship across the remainder of the season will be fascinating to see—especially if it comes at the expense of Solanke, one of Tottenham’s few semi-reliable performers.
Tudor was in no mood for optimism after the match. “We need to run more, we need to play better, we need to defend better, we need to win duels, second duels, second balls,” he moaned. In the eyes of the new Spurs coach, Arsenal were “faster,” “stronger” and, most damningly, more motivated. “They believe more,” he fretted, “that is the key in the end is they believe more.”
Nerves Won’t Be Easy for Arsenal to Shake
Rare Declan Rice mistake leads to a Spurs equaliser 24 seconds after Eberechi Eze's opener. pic.twitter.com/DZ12S5KhoV
— Sports Illustrated FC (@SI_FootballClub) February 22, 2026
Manchester United’s legendary manager Sir Matt Busby always warned against grand declarations in the fickle world of football. “It’s very dangerous to shout,” he would say, “because in my profession every 24 hours can make you a fool.”
Rice spent the buildup to Sunday’s derby telling everyone who would listen that Arsenal’s players “fully believe” they have the technical and, most crucially, mental ability to “win every game.” That belief wasn’t entirely evident in N17.
The bundle of nerves which gave up a two-goal lead against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday evening promptly returned to the fore. Every member of Arsenal’s backline set about cheaply giving up possession before Eze’s opening goal. Rice completed the sequence of blunders 24 seconds after the restart.
Rice’s instructions to his teammates to maintain their “composure” had barely left his lips by the time he dribbled directly into Kolo Muani while inside Arsenal’s penalty box. Tottenham’s misfiring striker took full advantage of the gift to score his first Premier League goal—yet this was hardly the first blunder from the Gunners in recent weeks.
Martín Zubimendi, Rice’s reliable midfield partner, was guilty of an even more egregious error against Manchester United in January. Gabriel and David Raya, two pillars of the team’s once revered rearguard, conspired to create Wolves’ late equaliser in midweek by challenging each other for the same high ball.
“Ask yourself a question, do you want to be part of the noise or not?” was Arteta’s message to his team when faced with the question of their mental fortitude. “If not, go and do something else, be part of another, different club.”
Arsenal Living Up to Cliche
Arsenal have done their best to justify multiple football clichés this week. 2–0 proved to be a very dangerous scoreline against Wolves but they have looked most vulnerable just after scoring for months. Kolo Muani’s quick-fire sucker-punch on Sunday was the ninth goal Arsenal have conceded within 10 minutes of scoring themselves this term.
That staggering tally represents more than a third of all the goals Arsenal have shipped this season. Eight of those nine have come since the turn of the year.
The nature of Arsenal’s response to this setback has taken the focus away from a nagging issue which must surely be of some concern to Arteta—how he fixes it is not so clear.
| Match | Score After Concession (Arsenal Goals First) | Minutes After Arsenal Goal |
|---|---|---|
| Tottenham (H) | 3–1 | 9 |
| Bournemouth (A) | 3–2 | 5 |
| Chelsea (A) | 2–1 | 8 |
| Inter (A) | 1–1 | 8 |
| Man Utd (H) | 1–1 | 8 |
| Man Utd (H) | 2–3 | 3 |
| Kairat (H) | 1–1 | 5 |
| Wolves (A) | 2–1 | 5 |
| Tottenham (A) | 1–1 | 2 |
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Four Things We Learned From Arsenal’s Record-Breaking Derby Win Over Tottenham.
