As an Arsenal fan I was a bit worried if we could get a win against Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. This was due to the fact that we lost key players in the build up to the North London derby. No Declan Rice due to suspension , No Odeegard as well due to the ankle injury he copped during the international break . For me this only meant one thing , 'a shaky midfield' for the Gunners. This was quite evident during the match as we lost most of the duels in the middle park and also found it difficult to produce any offensive play from the midfield. We clearly felt Martin Odeegard's absence as there was no one in the Arsenal fold capable of pulling those strings of killer passes to the final third.
The first half in my own books was totally dominated by Spurs . They had more ball possession and were very lethal in front of goal. If not because of birthday boy's heroics (David Raya) they would have been couple goals up. The Gunners just found it so hard to penetrate the Spurs defence in the first half. Finally when we got a chance to be offensive , Martinelli couldn't just finesse ball pass Vicario's long arms . Talking about Gabriel Martinelli , I feel he is yet to get his mojo back on . He hasn't been sharp and lethal as we all know him to be of recent . I hope in more games to can he will be able to find his touch and present himself as the explosive winger we Gunners know him to be .
Luck will however smile on the Gunners side in the second half as our big Brazilian defender, Gabriel came to the rescue to grab a precious goal for Arsenal in the 64th minute . It was an explosive header from a set piece (corner) which Gabriel had no issue in converting. Last season Arsenal were famous for their record of churning the most goals out of set pieces . It seems the Gunners are on the course to repeat that same feat this season. The header from Gabriel was the lone goal of the fierce North London Derby. This win for the Arsenal meant its the third time in a row the Gunners have beaten their North London rivals away from home.
Even though I was not really satisfied the Gunners gameplay on Sunday , I was glad the boys could secure a win . The win will no doubt serve as a morale booster for the Gunners especially in their incoming Champion's league fixture in Italy against Atalanta and also their clash against City in the Ethiad .
