Well agreed that Spurs seemed somewhat down, Harry Kane and Dele Ali had lost steam, a lucky free kick and marginal offside, all went Arsenal’s way!
Something was in the air as the game began, noise was huge, Arsenal start as usual was fast paced. Now Arsenal typically let off their guard after the first 15 minutes, and teams typically soak the early pressure and then plan to strike back. Against Spurs, Arsenal were relentless, through the first half.
Thankfully my prayers were heard and Alexandre Lacazette did start (crucially) and Arsenal plan was for their front three to run backed by Ramsey to run into Spurs. In the match, Two things helped, first one was the high line that Spurs kept, and the high press the Arsenal forwards had on the back three. Ramsey must have hit a dozen long balls to Alexis Sanchez in the game. This coupled with lack of energy from Spurs forwards meant that Arsenal dominated the derby.
About the first goal, Arsenal were lucky with the foul and the off side (technical off side), but compared to the David Silva one against Manchester City, this was marginal !. The header was superb, and the celebration run of all Arsenal players was great to watch. That conveyed desire on part of players to play well in this fixture.
Mesut Ozil, (play like this in every game !) just controlled the game, and we saw a new side to his game, he pressed, tracked back to defend ! . Ozil got rewarded justly with a standing ovation and on the side got a “Man of the Match” trophy.
At the end of the game, it was a lesson. A lesson in how statistics misinterpret the game. Given the Stats, Spurs had more possession than Arsenal, almost equal strikes on goal and on target, with Spurs passing accuracy higher than Arsenal’s. This gives an impression that both sides were evenly matched, but if you were watching the game, Arsenal were on top, clearly the better side.
Second half was a typical chess game.
Arsenal made major changes in the board by substituting Lacazette with Coquelin, and altered the formation. Spurs tried to counter with Son and Lorente, and almost did get one back with a good pass from Lorente to Son. Finally Arsenal prevailed
If Arsenal had beaten Manchester City, that level of ecstasy was experienced today with the Spurs win.
Arsenal : motivated, focused, disciplined! that made for a great Saturday evening ! after a long time, as an Arsenal fan I celebrated a great win
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