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Mikel Arteta paid tribute to his Arsenal players after they brushed off a string of high-profile absentees to claim an “ugly” 1-0 win at rivals Tottenham.
This north London derby had been billed as potentially make-or-break for Arsenal despite being the middle of September after the Gunners dropped points at home to Brighton before the international break.
Manchester City’s fourth consecutive Premier League win on Saturday coupled with the unavailability of captain Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice and Mikel Merino cast doubt over Arsenal’s title credentials, but they answered them superbly in N17.
After a dogged defensive display, centre-back Gabriel headed in the only goal after 64 minutes to keep the visitors within touching distance of City before next weekend’s trip to the Etihad.
“Super happy obviously. We know what it means to our club and our people to win a north London derby,” said Arteta, who this week saw Odegaard join the suspended Rice and injured Merino on the sidelines after suffering an ankle issue on Norway duty.
“We had good moments and others where we had to suffer. We suffered because we had to adapt the plan because of the players that we had available.
“I loved it. The second we started to get that news (Odegaard injury), the team got hungrier and hungrier to play that game. It’s a big compliment to everybody at the club to behave in a certain way.
Super happy obviously. We know what it means to our club and our people to win a north London derby— Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta
“It’s a tough week coming and instead of finding any excuses we did the opposite. We faced the challenge, played with courage and acknowledged the qualities we had to win the game.
“We have people that are hard and have thick skin. They love the game and we love winning.
“In order to love the game and win you have to do things that people call ugly. Enjoying those ugly things is a big compliment to this team right now. When you’re able to do that, normally you get a good gift.”
Spurs had started strongly with Dejan Kulusevski denied by David Raya before Dominic Solanke sent a header wide.
Arsenal also had moments on the break with Gabriel Martinelli squandering a good opening not long after Kai Havertz had a header saved by Guglielmo Vicario.
The second period followed a similar pattern initially with a Solanke header deflected wide and Micky van de Ven able to test Raya, but Tottenham’s set-piece kryptonite hurt them just after the hour.
After Saka saw a shot blocked by Pedro Porro, his in-swinging delivery from a corner found Gabriel, who brushed past Cristian Romero to power home what proved the winner.
Arteta lauded set-piece coach Nicolas Jover after Arsenal clinched a third straight win at the home of their rivals.
He added: “In his field, in other fields, as a person, the relationship that we have, that’s why I made the decision to bring him to City when I was there and then to Arsenal.
“Him and the staff have injected a belief to the players that there are many ways to win football matches. This is a really powerful one. It’s given us a lot so big compliment to all of them.”
Like in last season’s derby defeat at home, Spurs were undone by a set-piece, but Ange Postecoglou played down the growing narrative around his team.
“I know for some reason people think I don’t care about set-pieces and it’s a narrative that you can keep going on for ages and ages,” Postecoglou said.
“We work on them all the time, like we do for every other team.
“You know that they’re a threat. As I said, for the most part, we handled them really well today, but we switched off for one and we paid a price and you learn from that and you move on.
“It’s my burden to carry, mate and I’m happy to do that. For me, there’s a bigger picture that’s at play here that’s much more important than the finer details of us getting to where we want to.
“For us, the way forward is to try to turn the football we’re playing now into something meaningful.”
