Similar problem blights Arsenal in a big game
It seems a long time ago, but this game started really well for Arsenal. The Gunners set out to win it from the off, and just four minutes in, a nervy Tottenham crowd appeared close to turning on Davinson Sanchez as he opted to pass back to Hugo Lloris due to the immaculate structuring of the Arsenal press in this 4-3-3 system.
Bukayo Saka had joy on the opposite side of the pitch, forcing Ben Davies to pick up an early yellow after winning the ball back from him on the edge of the Spurs penalty area. His success in behind Ryan Sessegnon prompted Martin Odegaard to signal to him to continue operating in a high starting position to cause the hosts more problems about 15 minutes into the game.
Tottenham sat deep, as is their nature in these big games under Antonio Conte, building up a brick wall in front of Lloris' goal. Still, Arsenal appeared prepared to patiently break it down with a chisel rather than panicking and attempting to sledgehammer through it. The best example of this came as Granit Xhaka found Takehiro Tomiyasu in the left inside channel, breaking the Spurs line, leading to a move that saw Gabriel Martinelli cut back to Odegaard from the edge of the box, only for the Norwegian to miscue his strike.
READ MORE: Mikel Arteta provides worrying update on Gabriel amid Rob Holding red card appeal decision
Speaking after the game, Mikel Arteta seemed immensely frustrated that the decision to award a soft penalty for Cedric's bump on Heung-Min Son had ruined such a good start. "Ask the referee to come in front of the camera to explain his decision," the Spaniard told Sky after the game. "It's a shame because such a beautiful game was destroyed today."
In many ways, Arteta is right in that the momentum of the game did probably swing on that one call midway through the first half. However, if he's looking for what really cost Arsenal across the 90 minutes, then he may be better served looking internally for solutions.
Having conceded, the Gunners appeared to wilt under pressure as Spurs turned up the heat on a warm mid-May evening in North London. Not long after, Rob Holding allowed himself to be lured into a situation where he received a second yellow before Harry Kane headed home a second from a corner.
This continues a slightly worrying pattern of how Arsenal tend to react to moments of adversity in big games. The New Year's Day defeat to Manchester City started even better than Thursday night's loss but was derailed by Gabriel losing his head and getting sent off moments after Granit Xhaka had conceded a soft penalty. Similarly, in the home defeat to Liverpool, the Gunners reacted to Aaron Ramsdale's error to allow Diogo Jota's opening goal by conceding a second just eight minutes later.
This is a young Arsenal team, and they will hopefully use these testing situations as fuel to learn and develop. But if they qualify for the Champions League next season, then these kinds of big games are going to become a regular occurrence. Ensuring they don't continue to react poorly to moments where things go against them will be essential to turning those promising starts to matches into even more promising results.
Holding loses his head
From minute one it seemed pretty obvious that Rob Holding was on edge in this game. The look he shot Mohamed Elneny after the Egyptian briefly looked as though he might allow Harry Kane to pinch a ball on the halfway line said everything about how terrified the Arsenal centre back was of the Spurs counter.
Holding has been impressive enough in the past two games since coming into the side, but on both occasions, the game states have suited him somewhat. West Ham's more traditional tactics played straight into Holding's strengths, while Leeds' early red card meant there were limited times when he was caught in transition. On Thursday night, though, as Arsenal travelled to one of the best counter-attacking teams in the league, it was blatant how petrified Holding was of getting exposed.
The former Bolton man was still carrying the scars from last season's defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where Spurs and Heung-Min Son, in particular, were able to transition at will to devastating effect. With this in mind, he set out to neutralise the Korean with a reducer early on.
Son was not to be dissuaded, though, and as he quickly realised this, Holding became increasingly tunnel-visioned on trying to get in the Spurs forward's head at every opportunity. But with each passing altercation, it became clear that the 26-year-old was out of his depth, flapping desperately to stay afloat in the individual duel, while Son swam serenely on as the tide in this psychological warfare turned quickly in his favour.
The final blow came not long after the opening goal as Holding could not resist needlessly shoulder barging the Korean as he sought to run onto a ball that was soaring miles away from him. It appeared his teammates around him were aware of the direction that this losing battle was heading, and as the referee blew up for the foul, Takehiro Tomiyasu threw his arms skyward in frustration.
After the game, Mikel Arteta was too indignant at the decision made by Paul Tierney to speak for fear of suspension, but realistically he could have few complaints. Holding had tried to play matador by brandishing a red rag to Tottenham's bullish top scorer but ultimately ended up getting caught in his own cloth.
The 26-year-old has been a good servant to Arsenal this season. To come in and play at the level he has against West Ham and Leeds despite basically being relegated to the role of a special teams player when the Gunners needed to see out tight games speaks volumes to the levels of professionalism he clearly possesses.
However, on a night when his team needed that trait the most, Holding was found sorely lacking. It's a lamentable lapse of judgement from someone normally so reliable, and the hope now will be that the consequences of it do not echo into the crucial games to come.
Arsenal's defensive crisis
Arsenal this season have really given a new meaning to the phrase 'when it rains, it pours'. Early defeats in the campaign were exacerbated by a COVID outbreak in the squad, while the pain of defeat to Crystal Palace just last month was only enhanced by the long-term injuries losses of Kieran Tierney and Thomas Partey.
The trend continued on Thursday night as after having already conceded three goals and lost Rob Holding to the first-half red card, Gabriel went down injured. The Brazilian hasn't had a single muscle injury in his career, but it appears to be just Arsenal's luck that he's pulled up at probably the most crucial point of the season.
Speaking after the game, Mikel Arteta was not positive about the prognosis. "It's a muscular injury," the Spaniard said in his post-match press conference. "Gabby normally is not a player that asks to come off the pitch," he added.
It leaves Arsenal in something of a sticky situation at centre back now. Ben White was not considered to be fit enough to come off the bench to fill in for Holding after the red, given that he would have had to play an hour of football. This does not bode well for his chances of making it for the full 90 against Newcastle on Monday, and the fact that the England international's injury is a hamstring one, means that he'll have to be handled very delicately.
Assuming Gabriel is out and White is unable to play 90 minutes, then with Holding's suspension, the Gunners' only fit central defender would be Takehiro Tomiyasu, who himself had to be withdrawn early against West Ham just 11 days ago after suffering from exhaustion on his return from a four-month injury layoff. The Japan international did a superb job filling in there on Thursday, but the situation is so difficult that Arsenal are even considering appealing Rob Holding's red card.
"I will speak to the club, and let's see how we feel about it and what options we have," Arteta said when asked if he would look to attempt to overturn the dismissal. "We always defend our players as a club, so we will look what the best possible options are that we have."
The fact that the red is relatively clear cut will mean he's unlikely to get too far with that, though. This would leave Arsenal looking at the alternative options.
Granit Xhaka ended the game at the heart of the defence, while Mohamed Elneny has played at the heart of a three man defence in the past. The questions then emerge over what you lose from the midfield, but before allowing any concerns to snowball too intensely, the Gunners will simply have to go all-in on trying to get White fit for Monday. It's a high stakes game, but with Champions League qualification at stake, it may well be the only hand Arsenal have to play.
It's still in Arsenal's hands
Much of the talk around the game was focused on the enormous opportunity that presented itself to Arsenal. The chance to secure Champions League qualification at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium would have undoubtedly put this group up their alongside the double winners of '71 and the Invincibles in the annals of history.
While cantankerous observers would argue that the diminished stakes for this Gunners squad didn't merit such adulation, there's no arguing with the fact that it would have been nice to have a legendary night to put a bow on top of the immense progress that Mikel Arteta has made this season sadly though it was not to be.
The big calls went against Arsenal on the night. Had Cedric made the same challenge on Heung-Min Son at the Emirates instead of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, then it's likely that all penalty appeals would have been waved away. They were punished collectively in the most brutal way imaginable for a relatively minor individual mistake, but once the pain of this defeat wears off, the Gunners will look at the Premier League table and notice that they are still in fourth place.
With two games left to play, Arsenal still holds a one-point lead in fourth place, and if you'd offered most fans that at the start of the season, they probably would have taken it. For the team's part, it seems that they are intent on putting this chastening experience behind them as quickly as possible by bouncing back at St. James' Park on Monday.
"That the disappointment doesn't take over more than the great opportunity and beautiful two games we have ahead of us," Mikel Arteta said in his post-match press conference. "This is where our energy is going to be."
Be it winning three of the trickiest looking post-March international break fixtures immediately after losing three of the most winnable looking ones, or starting the season with three losses, no goals scored, and nine conceded, Arsenal have chosen to do nothing this season the easy way. It seems fitting that such an emotionally charged season now looks set to turn to the final day. With the upper hand still theirs, though, it's crucial that the Gunners bounce back with a win at Newcastle to ensure the legacy of Thursday's defeat does not linger for years to come.
Essentially this result doesn't have to mean anything for Arsenal if they don't let it. Having lost the battle, the Gunners can still go on to win the war.
