Everybody knew the backstory, how Arsenal had won their previous Premier League title almost 20 years ago to the day at White Hart Lane. To borrow a line from Mikel Arteta, it was about making their own history here, about doing everything they could to maintain the pressure on Manchester City.
Arsenal achieved their ends, keeping their title hopes alive on the back of a clinical first-half performance which resulted in them taking a 3-0 lead. Nobody predicted the second-half drama at that point, everything going against Tottenham, including a tight offside call from the VAR to disallow what would have been a Micky van de Ven equaliser for 1-1.
Arsenal’s set-piece threat was once again a huge part of it, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg pressured into putting through his own goal on one corner; the impressive Kai Havertz heading home from another. In between times, Bukayo Saka scored on a lethal counter and it was easy to imagine Arsenal’s players celebrating wildly in front of their fans when it was all over.
Which did happen. But only after they had flirted with disaster after two self-inflicted wounds, which probably evened things up when set against Spurs’ defending from the opening period.
The first came when David Raya tried to be way too smart when playing a pass out to Thomas Partey, finding only Cristian Romero, who hammered home. Romero was the symbol of Spurs’ defiance.
When Declan Rice was late into Ben Davies on the edge of the Arsenal area and Son Heung-min converted from the resulting penalty, there were three minutes to play; six more would be added. Arsenal were not about to blow it, were they? They were not.
Spurs pushed, they got into a few decent crossing positions and had a couple of set pieces, Guglielmo Vicario coming up for an all-or-nothing raid on the last of them. It was to no avail. The damage had been done. Spurs emerged with credit for their spirit but the truth was they never truly looked like pulling off the most sensational of comebacks; inflicting the blow to Arsenal’s title challenge their fans had craved. Or, indeed, firing their own bid for a Champions League finish.
The headline team news item had been Ange Postecoglou’s selection of Højbjerg over Yves Bissouma in front of the back four; it pointed to pragmatism rather than a doubling down on the fundamentals of Ange-Ball. Højbjerg, though, would err defensively with terrible consequences in the 15th minute.
Spurs conceded a soft corner, having tried and failed to play out from the back and when Saka whipped it over, Højbjerg found himself on the wrong side of Takehiro Tomiyasu. Stretching back in an attempt to rectify the situation, he succeeded only in flashing a header into his own net.
Spurs had teemed with intensity in the early exchanges, winning the duels, feeding off the energy of the home crowd. There was something of a turning point in the tenth minute, Partey accepting the ball in a dangerous area, dropping his shoulder and turning smoothly away from James Maddison, getting Arsenal moving. Maddison slipped over.
Spurs felt the fine margins go against them during a traumatic first half. Romero headed just wide from one Maddison set piece and hit the post on another.
Postecoglou’s team thought they had equalised when Pedro Porro’s blast after a half-cleared corner broke for Van de Ven, his finish assured, the celebrations crazy, only for the VAR to intervene.
Now it was the turn of the Arsenal support to go wild and they would do so again when Havertz picked out Saka in acres of space with the perfect diagonal after Spurs had shouted unsuccessfully for a penalty. Dejan Kulusevski argued that he was tripped by Leandro Trossard; Maddison likewise after a Rice challenge. There was nothing in either.
- Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for 'The Guardian'.
- If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you’re on the most recent version.
- In the Guardian app, tap the Menu button at the bottom right, then go to Settings (the gear icon), then Notifications.
- Turn on sport notifications.
It was Saka on the right against Davies, who had raced across. Did Saka have a right-footed finish? No. Could he cut back inside on to his left to shoot low past Vicario? Absolutely.
There were boos from the Spurs support at the interval. They had just seen Son lift high after running on to a Porro ball over the top and by then their team was 3-0 down, Havertz getting in between Van de Ven and Romero to nod in Rice’s corner.
The second half was a test of Spurs’ mentality, albeit not in the way that Postecoglou had envisaged. They had to show some pride in the badge. Tomiyasu headed high and Vicario made a stunning save with his foot to keep out Saka’s volley from a Havertz cross. That would have been 4-0, although had Havertz strayed offside in the build-up?
Spurs did fight, especially Romero, who headed off target again in the 51st minute. When he made a pressing run from the back, he stayed high after the ball was worked to Raya. Romero got his reward when the goalkeeper tried to sculpt a chipped pass and got it all wrong.
Postecoglou had just brought on Richarlison in the No 9 role, moving Son to the left and the tireless Kulusevki into the No 10 position. Could Spurs salvage something? Their hopes soared after the penalty, Rice’s attempted clearance turning into a painful clattering of Davies. Arsenal’s eventual joy was coloured by relief.
