5 Things we learnt while battering Spurs in the North London Derby

Good day to the Arsenal Community!

We are all massively pumped with the way Arsenal brushed aside the “mighty” Tottenham. From the 1st minute till the last, barring only a small spell of around 10 minutes, Arsenal absolutely battered them all over the park.  Its fair to say that we outplayed them just like we did Brentford in the previous game. Lets take a look at the 5 things we learnt…

1- Granit Xhaka- The leader

The importance of Granit Xhaka to this team can not be overstated. This guy has been phenomenal this season – make no mistake. He has been playing like a man possessed at times. Much to the frustration of everyone who wanted to put this man down & out of the Arsenal, he has made a Hollywood-style comeback. We all know his limitations, they were clear for everyone to see since he joined us, but what has been so poorly overlooked by fans and pundits alike is how brilliant he is for any team as a leader on the pitch. How efficient he is in recycling possession, his space reading is terrific which covers up for his lack of pace. This season, he has been a revelation in his supposedly new role as a left sided #8 occupying advanced spaces and making runs into the box a la Aaron Ramsey thus creating havoc.

Here are a few excerpts from an Old interview of a certain Arsene Wenger from 2016:

“I personally prefer him as a box-to-box player,” said Wenger. “Because he has the engine, he has the power, he has the long pass. He likes to come deep and distribute the game, but he has the engine to have the impact with his runs”

One game I recall very well in the Champions League against Ludogorets away, where Xhaka had started as a Left Sided CM along with Coquelin. Obviously, his current role is quite a lot different from that game but he made some excellent runs into the box and played in advanced positions in possession and scored a goal too. Arteta is a Master tactician who has envisioned this role and turned around his career but to be honest, I am not surprised by even an Iota seeing Xhaka being the leader of the pack.

Xhaka in the initial 4 minutes had a couple of touches in the tottenham penalty box. One flick from a long throw in and an unusual shot from Saka’s cross. He was already a thorn in the side of Tottenham’s defense. He was a nuisance all game and ultimately scored a beautiful goal as well that put us 3-1 up and thus the game to bed. He won the Man of The Match & rightly so.

Last season, I was scratching my head when Xhaka was linked to Roma. A lot of fans & analysts alike were so fed up of him they were actually happy to see him go. As if getting rid of Xhaka would have solved our problems and made us top of the league.

There was a reason as to why all the succeeding managers including Arsene Wenger have put Xhaka as the first name on their team sheet. His leadership skills are second to none. He is a General on the pitch, the one to Command the troops. The one to re-organize when we are playing well or not. The one everyone looks up-to when in doubt….

So Granit Xhaka, yes you heard it right, is key to helping us to achieve our goals this season.

2- Thomas Partey’s importance

Thomas Partey well- what more to say..? He is the key, the lifeblood, the central idea of Arteta’s poetry. You will run out of superlatives to describe Partey’s importance to this Arsenal team and how we play. His awareness, his athleticism, his ability to stay calm in tight spaces and pick out passes weighted perfectly is absolutely essential to how we build up. Here is an instance in the 1st minute of the game which epitomizes his importance to this team:

In the above exchanges, Spurs look to press Arsenal high after kick off. Perisic & Hojberg aggressively press Partey to force him into a mistake looking for a turn over. Son blocking the passing option to Odegaard who has a free run while Bentancur is on Saka’s breath if Partey opts to pass to him. Partey plays a perfectly weighed pass to Gabriel who is pinned by Lenglet and his beautiful first touch pass to Ode leads to the first attempt for Arsenal. The clarity in decision making in the above situation is what puts him apart from all other midfield options. Obviously, he also makes mistakes 1 out of 10 times but that consistency is what leads to so many positive situations in a game. His goal was just a big bonus although it was the perfect strike right into the top corner.

Keeping Partey fit & on form is going to be absolutely pivotal for our season. There is currently no backup to what Partey can do in this team but given his poor injury resilience, a bad couple of results may be expected in this hectic schedule leading to the World Cup. Lots of people – including me – rate Albert Sambi Lokonga but currently, he needs to have more confidence before being put into such pressure games.

3- William Saliba

Is he really 21? William Saliba is playing like a veteran. His talents and potential were clear for everyone to see even at 18 when we signed him. But the consistent football he has played in his homeland has turned him into a beast at the age of 21. His mental toughness and resilience is unbelievable. He is destined to be one of the best CBs in the world. Enough said- tie him to a 15 year contract ASAP.

4- A couple of Blemishes in a Perfect outing…

When you dominate a team so much its hard to find weaknesses but I think there needs to be a couple of steps to further rise for this team collectively before we can be out-and-out title contenders. Mind you, with the beautiful football we are playing & the dominance we have shown in most games this season, we might still be in with a shout. But we are taking massive strides towards being a side to be in with a shout for top 5 in the world.

White almost making a fatal mistake in the 14th Minute:

Although we were not punished but 9/10 against top teams we would get punished. This was a fatal & silly mistake that could have handed them an unfair advantage going in to the 2nd quarter of the game. When you defend in a high-line which we always would, you just have to get the timing right. White is playing brilliantly at RB and obviously you can not control each moment of a game but this could have been a turning point in the game.

Gabriel Maghalaes:

A lot of people arent convinced with Gabriel Maghalaes, probably rightly so. But he is a front foot defender that has a mistake or two in him that prove to be fatal in games. The tackle he made on Richarlison was very poor and 100% a penalty. Although there is a case for him being dropped to the bench in favor of White/Saliba at LCB, but as far as I think, to go with his weaknesses he has some extra ordinary traits as a defender. His physicality while defending corners/set pieces & one-on-one with any forward in this league is very important to us not conceding against teams. The elite defensive structure Arteta has installed in this team, the bigger threats for teams who are lower ranked is the Corners/Set piece threats. We have been terrific in defending those and Gabriel is always at the heart of it.

Minute 25th – 40th

This young team has a habit of falling off the pace of the game in certain instances. After the 25th minute as Spurs tried to get their foot in the game, we made a few errors that lead to them getting back into the game. There were a few counter attacking instances where they could have hurt us. It needed a half time talk from Arteta for Arsenal to get back on top of Spurs in the game. Obviously, other teams will always have a spell in each game where we can’t control the game too well. But in those instances, we are conceding some dangerous situations. Again, a very solid outing where weaknesses were hard to find.

5- Variability in goal scoring- Wing Forwards need to come to the party.

Right now, we are playing some scintillating football that will always trouble any team. Our two Star Boys Saka & Martinelli are playing some of the best football of their lives. Currently, our Central midfield is getting goals in games which is an extremely rare and unique trait as a team to have. What this team needs to get to that totally dominant level is goals from our wing forwards. They are getting into position to score quite often but probably are still working hard and learning on the job as they say. At the start of the season, I had a target of about 25 goals between Saka & Martinelli if they are the starters in this team. Currently the score stands at 3 for Martinelli, and 1 for Saka. These numbers have to increase if we are going to challenge Manchester City who in the early stages look to be clear favourites.

Next Up in EPL:

We are playing Bodo/Glimt in Europa, Thursday night where I hope all the youngsters get a game. The big one is Arsenal V Liverpool at the Emirates on Sunday. Liverpool are struggling to replicate their levels they’ve shown for the last few seasons. But they love playing Arsenal in the premier league and we havent’ got the better of them in recent seasons. This might just be the time where Arsenal show that they really mean business. It will be much more difficult to play them than this poor Spurs team but we shall hope for the best.

Ansar Ahmad

32-year old Arsenal FC fan since 2002. Started following Arsenal because of the gorgeous style of football they used to play and soon fell in love with WENGER-BALL. Still can’t believe how Mr. Wenger managed to make a very complex game look so simple and beautiful. Keen observer of tactics and love to analyse data and statistics. Passionate about writing on Arsenal-related stuff.