Tottenham Hotspur suffered their fourth successive North London derby defeat after a bruising 4-1 loss at the Emirates on Sunday.
There was plenty of hope that Thomas Frank would finally put an end to Spurs’ derby misery, especially after he beat Arsenal in a pre-season friendly. Instead, this turned into one of Spurs’ weakest creative displays in a decade.
Frank did receive an injury boost after the international break, with Mohammed Kudus returning to the starting XI. Pape Sarr, Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray all made the bench, though the latter two went unused. Mikel Arteta had similar luck, welcoming back Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli, but both began among the substitutes.
First half: Arsenal 2-0 Tottenham
There was some early confusion about whether Spurs were lining up in a back three or a back five, but once the match kicked off, it didn’t matter. Arsenal’s press pinned Tottenham so deep that Frank’s side were effectively forced into a back five from the opening minutes.
Arsenal almost struck inside 3 minutes when Eberechi Eze lifted a clever ball over Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven to find Declan Rice, whose volley was parried away by Guglielmo Vicario before Kevin Danso nearly turned the rebound into his own net.
Danso’s tough start continued shortly after when a failed clearance fell for Mikel Merino, who dragged a deflected effort just wide. Bukayo Saka then had Spurs worrying from two free-kicks – the first dipping just over, the second tipped over brilliantly by Vicario.
But with ten minutes to the interval, all of Spurs’ attempts to slow the game down went straight out the window. Merino lobbed a neat pass into the box for Leandro Trossard, who brought it down, spun onto his left and fired thanks to a touch off van de Ven that wrong-footed Vicario to make it 1-0.
Before Spurs could even gain their footing in the game, Arsenal doubled their lead. Rice slipped the ball to Eze inside the box, and Arsenal’s number 10 drilled a low shot through bodies and past Vicario. A quick VAR check confirmed the goal, and Spurs went into the break with serious problems.
Second half: Arsenal 3-1 Tottenham
Frank ditched the back five at half-time, bringing on Xavi Simons for Danso to get more control in midfield. However, any chance of a reaction disappeared within a minute of the restart.
Jurrien Timber’s first pass into the box ricocheted back to him, and the second slipped perfectly to Eze, who needed one touch to set himself before finishing it into the far corner.
Spurs finally found something positive when Martin Zubimendi lost the ball to Joao Palhinha, who found Richarlison. The Brazilian spotted David Raya well off his line and lobbed him from around 40 yards with a brilliant strike to make it 3-1, and Spurs had a glimmer of life.
That glimmer didn’t last as Arsenal kept creating chances, and Saka forced Vicario into a sharp save from a curling effort destined for the bottom corner.
With 15 minutes to go, Arsenal killed the game as Rice’s header from halfway found Trossard down the left, who cut it back for Eze on the edge. His first touch set it up, and the finish into the bottom corner sealed his North London derby hat trick.
He nearly had a fourth as well, picked out free by Saka, but this time Vicario denied him with a strong one-handed stop.
After a few embarrassing moments of Arsenal simply playing around Spurs, the final whistle was a relief for everyone.
FT: ARSENAL 4-1 TOTTENHAM
SpursWeb man of the match: Joao Palhinha
What’s next for Spurs?
Plenty of Spurs fans expected Eze to show up after Frank’s “Who’s Eze?” comment in his pre-match press conference, and the manager has been getting plenty of trolling for that.
However, even that wasn’t the most worrying thing he said. After the match, Frank reminded everyone that Spurs finished 17th last season; a comment that won’t sit well with supporters who couldn’t care less about the league position after finally ending a 17-year trophy drought and qualifying for the Champions League.
There wasn’t a hint of creativity from Spurs today, and that could have been forgiven if there was at least some defensive stability, especially with five defenders, but even that fell apart. Patience is wearing thin now, with just 3 wins in the last 11 matches.
That patience will be tested even further on Wednesday when the Europa League champions face the Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain.