Spurs 1 Arsenal 4
What a response from Arsenal. This game couldn’t come quick enough for Arsenal after the disaster at Wolves during the week but they took their frustration out on a Spurs side devoid of quality. Eze opened the scoring as he always does against Spurs after good work from Saka on the wing to give Arsenal the lead in the 32nd minute, just 24 seconds after the restart a Declan Rice mistake gave Kolo-Muani the ball who ran into the box and fired past Raya to score his first Premier League of the season with Spurs only touch in the Arsenal box in the first half. Just two minutes into the second half Victor Gyokeres fired a rocket from the edge of the box past Vicario to put Arsenal 2-1 up and from there Arsenal were quite comfortable. Eze nabbed his second after good work from Gyokeres again with the ball kindly falling to Eze to tap home and make it 3-1, just before the game was over Gyokeres got his second holding of Archie Gray and firing past Vicario to make it 4-1 to Arsenal who made a statement in the North London derby away from home.
That’s the best game I’ve seen from Victor Gyokeres in an Arsenal shirt. If you’ve been reading my match reviews on Arsenal you’ll know I’ve been quite critical of Victor Gyokeres but I have to say I thought he was immense today. Admittedly I hadn’t seen much full 90 minutes of him when he was at Sporting as I don’t watch the Portuguese league but from the highlights I saw I thought this was the Gyokeres Arsenal were getting in the summer, he looked quick, sharp and agile today taking his goals brilliantly and looking confident in every action throughout the game. Some of the hold-up play was superb especially for the third goal to flick the ball to Eze whilst Dragusin was right behind him opening the play for Saka and Eze which eventually leads to a goal. I’m hoping to see more of these performances from Gyokeres for the rest of the season as Arsenal really need a spearhead in the attack when Saka is getting marked by two or three players at times, a well deserved player of the match for Victor Gyokeres.
A real lack of quality cost Spurs. It was always going to be tough for Spurs to get a result in this one with so many players still missing but I thought there were a few players that did have good performances. Randal Kolo-Muani is someone who I thought would come in and do really well at Spurs after his excellent 6 month stint at Juventus last season and this was the first time this season were he looked like the Juventus Kolo-Muani of last season, Spurs just couldn’t get him the ball enough with Xavi Simons really struggling throughout the game to have an impact in the midfield. Djed Spence was another one who played well and handled Saka well on that right-hand-side but I just don’t see him as a wing-back with Spurs really struggling going forward down both flanks with Archie Gray and Djed Spence on either side. It’ll be interesting to see what Igor Tudor’s plan is for the rest of the season as he astonishingly looks to keep Tottenham in the Premier League.
Surely relegation isn’t going to happen to Spurs. After yet another loss in the league Spurs sit in 16th place only 4 points off West Ham in 18th place. It’s hard to comprehend but there is a real possibility that gap will narrow further over the next few weeks with Spurs next two games being Fulham(A) and Crystal Palace(H), those two games are absolutely massive for Spurs as they look to win their first game in the Premier League in 2026. They need players like Mohammed Kudus, Pedro Porro, Destiny Udogie, Dejan Kulusevski etc back as soon as possible to give Tottenham some much needed quality going forward and to start winning some matches in the league, can Igor Tudor keep Spurs in the Premier League?
Arsenal extend the gap to City back to 5 points. Although City have a game in hand Arsenal needed these three points badly to build some confidence in the league after draws against Brentford and Wolves. It’s easy to forget that Arsenal have played 3 away games in a row in the Premier League and whilst their lead at the top has narrowed a bit it’s not the end of the world to be two points clear if City win their game in hand. I don’t think this City team is one that’s going to win the rest of their games in the league this season based purely on how inconsistent they’ve been at times so far this season. Arsenal now have a weeks rest in the league in preparation for another derby against Chelsea at the Emirates on Sunday which you’d imagine will be a much bigger test than the one Spurs provided today. The gap could narrow back to 2 points if City beat Leeds on the Saturday so all the pressure will be back on Arsenal yet again to get a result. Every game from now to the end of the season feels like a cup final for Arsenal in the league as they look to win the Premier League for the first time in 22 years.