Tactics Column: Key quartet step up to deliver North London derby demolition

“It appears like we’ve proven what we’re product of however then you need to present it repeatedly and once more.”

North London is pink and Arsenal didn’t simply win however responded to the most important setback of the season with the most effective performances of the marketing campaign at Tottenham on Sunday.

Nearly precisely two weeks earlier, Manchester Metropolis had been trailing at Anfield with lower than 10 minutes to play and Mikel Arteta’s facet had been about to go 9 factors clear on the high of the league. Metropolis turned that sport round and Arsenal have since dropped 4 factors, drawing with Brentford and Wolves regardless of main in each video games. Metropolis, in the meantime, have a sport in hand and lowered the hole on the high to 2 factors forward of Sunday’s journey up the Seven Sisters Highway.

Something however three factors would have felt deadly for Arsenal’s hopes of profitable a primary league title since they had been topped champions at White Hart Lane 22 years in the past. It was the right day, then, for a few of this season’s extra inconsistent performers to ship and for issues to click on in assault in a means that has been far too rare this season.

With Ben White not even on the bench, Jurrien Timber was chosen at right-back once more and gave maybe his finest offensive efficiency of the marketing campaign, providing loads of help to Bukayo Saka forward of him and exploiting the failings in Tottenham’s press.

From the very opening phases, it was clear Timber was going to get ahead, making lung-busting, White-esque overlaps to provide Saka an choice, and assist him keep away from 2v1 conditions, down the appropriate.

That help continued by way of the half …

… and helped guarantee Saka wasn’t doubled up on as simply as he usually is, however Timber’s largest affect really got here from when he wasn’t supporting so excessive upfield, along with his decrease positioning dragging Spurs left-wingback out of the again 5 when the hosts appeared to press.

Taking part in with out wingers and with a again 5, Spence would push on to shut Timber down however with out ever getting shut sufficient for the strain to be efficient. It meant Arsenal might each management possession comfortably after which additionally get Saka into advantageous one-on-one conditions and actually stretch the Tottenham again 5: in each of the examples beneath, Micky van de Ven is dragged out of the guts of the defence, firstly to shut Saka down on the wing …

… and later to press a cross into Eberechi Eze, although he was too far-off from the midfielder to intervene as Eze rapidly performed the ball in behind for Saka.

It was the same situation that noticed Arsenal open the scoring, with Spence partaking Timber, who slid a ball down the road for Saka to chase …

… Saka beats Pape Matar Sarr and out of the blue has the type of house to run into that you simply wouldn’t anticipate within the space towards a group with a again 5, however Tottenham are once more extremely stretched and Spence, having been tasked with difficult Timber, is miles from the scene.

Inside seconds, the impasse is damaged. Saka’s motion in behind in additional central areas was a constant menace for Arsenal as properly. The primary time we noticed it had once more seen Spence push up onto Timber, and Saka was sharper than van de Ven, getting the incorrect facet of the Dutchman. Vicario needed to come out to win a header.

Vicario rescued Spurs once more, with a save as an alternative, when Piero Hincapie discovered Saka from the other flank. The Spurs defence was stretched once more on this event, with Joao Palhinha popping out of the backline to mark Leandro Trossard – whereas it was Spence who pushed ahead from the left, it was typically Palhinha, from centre-back, who was the participant tasked with being aggressive on the appropriate, and this time round he left a gaping channel for an additional extensive open fullback in Hincapie to identify and ship the ball into Saka’s path.

That ahead motion from Palhinha was excellently taken benefit of by Viktor Gyokeres early on, as he ghosted behind the Portuguese and into the house between right-back Archie Grey and central centre-back Radu Dragusin. With Hincapie once more in loads of house to obtain, flip, and he threaded a easy ball into Gyokeres, who had sufficient house to show and face objective …

…from there he might get Dragusin into a clumsy place, shuffling again in direction of his personal objective, and the striker hit effort that simply flashed previous the far publish.

Generally, Gyokeres’ motion in behind appeared so much sharper and extra thought of all through Sunday’s sport, as he appeared to create angles for the gamers in possession to string their passes.

Beginning one run in behind immediately in entrance of Rice, making a cross tough to drag off, he strikes extensive, creating a greater angle for the ball in addition to opening a much bigger hole between the 2 Spurs defenders, earlier than darting again inside as Rice will get able to launch the ball.

That one was overhit so led to nothing however the motion was good and the intention was the appropriate one. If the cross and the run had been somewhat extra fitted to one another, Gyokeres would’ve run onto the ball going through objective and had a chance to get a shot away.

Gyokeres stored peeling into that channel, particularly when Palhinha joined the efforts to press (each circled beneath) …

… and one other sharp diagonal run simply earlier than half-time noticed the Swede make his transfer inside too early, closing the angle Rice needed to goal for and the cross ended up caught simply behind him.

Even when issues didn’t fairly come off, like above, Gyokeres was extra concerned and extra alert than he’s been in plenty of video games this season. He made the incorrect choice within the field on the Trossard shot beneath — if he’d attacked the opposite of Grey he’d have given himself a a lot better likelihood of poking the ball in — however the first half was filled with indicators that he was actually making an attempt to become involved.

There was no doubting his involvement after the break, with the striker scoring twice and taking part in a central function to the opposite Arsenal objective.

Gyokeres’ first strike, sarcastically sufficient, got here from one of many occasions Djed Spence (circled beneath) stayed within the backline and didn’t get out to Timber. Standing off, he gave the Arsenal right-back time to ship a ball right into a central space the place Eze was occupying Dragusin and Gyokeres as soon as once more discovered the hole between two of Tottenham’s defenders.

The contact and end had been glorious. The contact for the third objective was even higher and the objective on the entire was a mix of a lot of what was good in regards to the Arsenal efficiency on Sunday: Gyokeres taking part in his finest when he has team-mates near him, Eze getting near the striker and performing decisively, taking as few touches as doable, in key moments, and Saka making a darting run by way of the center.

There was a little bit of fortune in the way in which the ball bounced to Eze after Saka was denied, however Arsenal earned their luck in entrance of objective.

Eze’s robust efficiency was constructed upon his freedom to float and hold near team-mates. He appears to be like at his most snug when he isn’t actually taking part in in that proper channel we affiliate with Martin Odegaard, however when he can drift and mix with gamers with fast, one and two contact strikes. Saka appeared a pure accomplice for a few of that play on Sunday and it matches properly with Leandro Trossard as properly.

The important thing to extra constant performances most likely lies in permitting Eze to roam, not involving him within the construct up, having him in shut proximity to fellow attacking gamers for fast combos, and watching him speed up Arsenal’s attacking play from there. His feeling for when to reach within the field is robust and his pure means to mix with gamers makes issues circulate once they work. Simply examine his contact maps in his final two begins and also you see the place he must be on the pitch to thrive.

The areas he was concerned in within the residence sport towards Wolves, specifically, felt ill-suited to getting the perfect out of him.

Hopefully now we’re going to see the supervisor and the participant get to grasp what one another desires a bit higher. If a primary north London derby masterclass didn’t kickstart issues, possibly a second can? And that roaming function might simply as simply be handed to him from the left wing too, equally to how Trossard usually performs, if there’s a need to get him into the group alongside the captain and/or Kai Havertz when he returns to health.

Gyokeres’ second was the icing on the cake and well-earned after a powerful efficiency. He might’ve had extra than simply two as properly, had Trossard and Eze appeared to play him in reasonably than taking pictures within the first and second half respectively.

A have a look at the numbers additional underlines the performances of Arsenal’s matchwinners on the day.

Jurrien Timber’s offensive output

Season-high three key passes regardless of coming off earlier than the hour mark

Eberechi Eze’s eye for objective

Took 5 photographs on the day
As much as and together with the primary derby of the season, Eze took a shot each 32.4 minutes within the Premier League for Arsenal. Between the 2 derbies, he took a shot each 120.6 minutes within the Premier League.

Bukayo Saka’s motion

5 photographs, the second most he has taken in a Premier League sport this season

Viktor Gyokeres’ all-round sport

4 photographs, his most in a Premier League look since September
Most passes tried (27) and passes accomplished (18) in a Premier League sport. His common for the season is 7.5 accomplished passes per 90 minutes, his earlier excessive for a sport was 12.
Had 41 touches (his Premier League common this season is 24.9 per 90 minutes)

And now it’s again to that Mikel Arteta press convention quote on the high of the piece:

“It appears like we’ve proven what we’re product of however then you need to present it repeatedly and once more.”

Viktor Gyokeres can play like that. Bukayo Saka can supply enormous menace when not shackled to the wing. Eberechi Eze may be decisive, artistic, scientific. Jurrien Timber can supply actual help within the last third.

These aren’t issues we’ve been used to seeing from these gamers this season. Doing it on Sunday was a needed first step. Now the demand, the problem, is to repeat it repeatedly and once more.

That’s the mark of champions.