Mikel Arteta triumphed over Antonio Conte in Saturday’s north London derby, as Arsenal defeated Tottenham 3-1 in a game that featured goals, a red card, and a penalty.
Arsenal won the Premier League north London derby against Tottenham by a score of 3-1.
The Gunners dominated from the start and were rewarded 20 minutes in with a spectacular Thomas Partey strike. Antonio Conte’s team surged into the game and were granted a penalties for a sloppy Gabriel Magalhaes tackle, which Harry Kane converted to level the score.
But Mikel Arteta’s men came out even stronger in the second half, with Gabriel Jesus capitalizing on a Hugo Lloris error and Granit Xhaka capping a fantastic display with a 67th-minute score.
After Emerson Royal was sent out for a high challenge on Gabriel Martinelli, the rest of the afternoon was rather easy for the Emirates team.
The Daily Star Sport looks at three things Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger got right as his team went four points clear at the top of the table.
1. Hero of Saliba
William Saliba, 21, was unquestionably one of Arsenal’s top players. The Frenchman handled the threat of Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min calmly in the biggest test of his fledgling Premier League career.
In only his eighth league start for the north London club, he frequently anticipated through balls and pushed Spurs’ two most dangerous attackers off the ball.
2. Battle in the midfield
The Gunners dominated possession by crowding the middle. Partey, Martin Odegaard, and Granit Xhaka dominated Spurs’ midfield partnership of Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg on numerous occasions.
To make matters worse, Arteta’s astute use of Oleksandr Zinchenko meant the Ukrainian was frequently tucked in and added another red body in the midfield tussle.
4. The pressing game
Arteta’s team jumped up to an early lead and put Spurs on the back foot. A big part of that was hunting in packs while the other team nervously tried to play out from the back.
It set the tone for the rest of the game, as Arsenal consistently picked off players like Hugo Lloris and Emerson Royal, allowing them to gather possession and impose their brand of football for long stretches.
