Exhaustive match review of Arsenal's 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur

Olivier Giroud

It was a day of two halves for me. I genuinely hate the crippling nerves and nausea leading up to a derby. For many reasons, this has to be up there with the most nervous I’ve felt when we’ve faced the Spurs.

They arrived at the Emirates with a host of shiny new players, two wins under their belts and what seemed like a fair amount of confidence. They’ve bought well, strengthened in a lot of areas and are now in a position where they have quality to come off the bench.

I’m a nervous guy by nature and the thought of losing to this new look Spurs team made me feel a bit sick. But, looking at the two lineups, I also felt that our team was as good, if not better than theirs and I think this was proven as the match progressed. In the end, we fought like hell and can bathe in the sweet glow of victory over the enemy once again.

The team news was pretty much as expected apart from Jenkinson playing at right back ahead of Sagna, who was ill. We started brightly and were the superior side for most of the first half. Santi Cazorla absolutely terrorised the Spurs midfield and defense, no matter how close they got he’d beat them. He forced a fine save from Lloris with one early freekick and then went within inches of scoring with another, cheekily hitting it low under the Tottenham wall and just past the post.

We were looking dangerous coming forward and Spurs were being frustrated by some excellent work from Mertesacker and Koscielny. The one worry was down the flanks, where Chadli and Townsend were finding some joy against Jenkinson and Gibbs.

In particular, Jenkinson was beaten by Chadli three or four times and it was starting to get a bit worrying with neither Theo or Santi particularly defensively inclined.

Eventually our attacking superiority bore fruit. It started with Chadli foolishly thinking he could run through Per Mertesacker, who coolly stuck his leg out and said ‘No’. The ball was fed up to Ramsey, who held the ball up before laying off to Rosicky.

The Spurs back line tried to push up and Rose specifically lost his bearings, not noticing Theo ghosting in behind. Michael Dawson played Theo onside and Rosicky fed the winger perfectly for him to square for Giroud, who surged in front of Dawson to prod home. It was a fantastic goal, as we snuffed out their attack, went forward with intent and took advantage of their poor defending clinically.

It was also impressive from Giroud, he wanted the ball more than Dawson, outmuscled him and left the normally impressive defender on his backside. The Emirates went nuts, the atmosphere had been very good already, with a lot of bullish singing and it felt that we had gone there with a collective fire in our bellies, united against the old enemy.

We seemed to be comfortable for the rest of the half and there was a zip and a confidence in our play, the passing was crisp and the movement was good. It was doubly good because the Spurs midfield was staying very tight to us, pressing quite well but not able to disrupt our play.

Spurs came back into the game a bit, but there just wasn’t the same spark Arsenal had and they were frustrated by some sterling work from our centre backs and some impressive covering and tracking from Ramsey, Wilshere and Rosicky.

There was a worrying moment for us as Jack Wilshere trudged off to be replaced by Flamini just before half time, but fortunately Jack was merely unwell, struck by the same illness as Sagna. It was an absorbing and draining first half and I thought we deserved our lead.

The second half was an all together more worrying affair. Tottenham came out with more intensity and looked sharper, while we started to look a little tired and just slipped off the pace. Spurs had been able to rest a number of their players in the week, due firstly to the depth of their squad and the fact they already had a 5-0 lead from the away leg of their Europa League qualifier.

By contrast, we’d had to name a very strong team against Fenerbahçe due to a lack of depth. It was costly too, not only did it prove tiring for the players, but Podolski joined Arteta, Chamberlain and Diaby on the long term injury list.

As usual we’ve been unfortunate with injuries. Our bench looked weak today, but if you add Vermaelen, Podolski, Arteta, Diaby and Chamberlain to it and suddenly it’s probably as strong as Spurs bench.

Arsenal fans were jubilant after winning 1-0 over their rivals Tottenham

All of this meant that in the second half, we looked a bit drained to start with and Spurs applied a bit of pressure. But despite controlling the early exchanges, there was really nothing much in terms of an end product for Tottenham. The wingers had a lot less joy as Gibbs and Jenkinson improved through the game and Soldado was in Koscielny’s pocket. He was reduced to diving to try and win a penalty.

He really was anonymous and looks as if he’s going to need a lot of time to adapt to the Premier League. Dembele offered very little and Capoue misplaced passes and didn’t look up to speed. Capoue eventually went off with what looked like a very nasty leg injury. We’ve had our fair share of bad luck when it comes to leg breaks, so I hope I speak for all Arsenal fans when I say I hope it’s not a serious injury.

Flamini, who’d been thrown on just before the break, really excelled in the second half. He looked like a man desperate to prove he’s still got quality and he threw himself, literally at times, into the game. He was shouting and organising straight away, showing some of the leadership qualities we’ve been missing in recent years. He did take it a bit far at times and in his eagerness he put in a couple of dangerous two footed tackles, which I feel are not acceptable.

There is never a need for any player to jump in with both feet off the ground and while I appreciated Flamini’s work rate and defensive steel, two footed tackles can’t be tolerated and if he continues in that way, he’ll end up getting sent off. It’ll be something Wenger will need to get him to curb, because on the evidence of his performance, he could well be an important player for us.

He helped instill a ‘you shall not pass‘ mentality amongst the rest of the team and to a man we harried, worked and fought to keep Tottenham out. We looked dangerous on the break too, a couple of times we stole the ball back and got forward, only to be denied by the excellent Hugo Lloris. The keeper was definitely their best player and arguably stopped us from making the game comfortable.

As time ticked by, Tottenham threw more and more forward and it started getting scrappy as tired Arsenal legs desperately kept tackling and blocking, frustrating a Tottenham attack with a lack of ideas. Lamela and Defoe failed to improve Spurs’ fortunes, however Defoe’s deflected shot forced Szczesny into a world class save.

We were hanging on a bit, with Giroud often well back in defense, using his physical presence to great effect. Wenger switched Rosicky for Monreal to sure up the left hand side and he did a good job, playing in almost a wing back position allowing Gibbs to tuck in a bit more and compact the back four.

Minutes ticked by slowly and painfully as the ball was hacked clear by any means time and time again. Sagna, despite his illness came on at the very end and played as a third centre back, using his arial ability to keep out the balls that kept coming into the box. The crowd got right behind the lads, despite the nerves, every clearance and every tackle was cleared to the rafters and in the end, hard work and sheer will got us over the line.

Szczesny launched the ball upfield and the final whistle wasn’t even heard as the Emirates erupted in an outpouring of relief and joy. The Spuds were conquered again and it was a performance to make every fan proud.

Walking from the stadium I could barely stop smiling, it was such a huge relief after the tension of the game. The team put in a real shift to win that game, the second goal could have come, but didn’t and in the end we had to dig very deep to preserve the advantage we had.

It took some real bottle to win and we should all be mightily proud of our team, who gave everything for the shirt. You can’t ask for more than that. An international break means we don’t play for another 13 days and to be honest, I’m quite glad.

The excitement of the derby gives way to the utter madness of transfer deadline day. We wait to see what Arsene can pull off, amidst talk of Özil and potentially another big transfer on the cards, it’ll be a roller coaster ride all the way up to 11pm. Enjoy the bragging rights and the sweet misery of Spurs fans.

Arsenal (4-2-3-1)

Szczesny, Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Rosicky ? (Monreal 79′), Wilshere (Flamini 43′ ?), Ramsey, Walcott (Sagna 90′), Cazorla, Giroud

Subs

Fabianski, Monreal, Sagna, Flamini, Sanogo, Gnabry, Zelalem

Tottenham (4-2-3-1)

Lloris, Walker, Vertonghen, Dawson, Rose, Paulinho ?, Capoue (Sandro 75′), Townsend (Lamela 75′), Dembele (Defoe 69′ ?), Chadli, Soldado

Subs

Friedel, Naughton, Holtby, Sigurdsson, Sandro, Lamela, Defoe

Player Ratings

Szczesny	8/10	Looked solid, made a stunning save and kept his cool at the end, gave him an extra point for the video he posted on facebook!
Jenkinson	7/10	Struggled to contain Chadli early on, but improved as the game progressed
Mertesacker	8/10	A rock and dominated in the air. Huge performance
Koscielny	8/10	Snapped into tackles, had Soldado on toast and bossed everything
Gibbs	7/10	Like Jenks, struggled early on, but improved
Ramsey	8/10	Huge work rate, passed and tackled well, top performance again
Wilshere	7/10	Passed well and looked dangerous before being subbed
Rosicky	7/10	Similar to Ramsey, had a very good game and covered Santi well
Walcott	7/10	Came close to scoring and provided the assist for Giroud
Cazorla	8/10	Had the Spuds chasing shadows, always looked dangerous on the ball
Giroud	9/10	Magnificent. Scored a brilliant goal, dominated Dawson and defended well
Subs
Flamini	7/10	A little wild, but gave us some much needed steel, great return to the club
Monreal	7/10	Did a good job on the left as Sp*rs put the pressure on
Sagna	7/10	Wasn’t on long, but won some important headers to keep us ahead