Arsenal got what he needed in the north London derby against Tottenham: won 3-2 and remains at the top of the league Premier League.
Arsenal achieved a key victory in the north London classic against Tottenham and remains at the top of the Premier. Getty Images
Mikel Arteta’s team was more forceful than showy and thanks to the goals of Peter-Emile Hojbjergagainst, Bukayo Saka y Kai Havertz They took an exaggerated lead in the first half and seemed like they were going to take the win easily.
However, the key appearance of Cristian “Cuti” Romero to convert the discount At 19 minutes into the second half the dynamic of the match changed and gave it uncertainty until the end. That suspense grew in the final minutes after Heung-Min Son He scored a penalty to make it 3-2.
With the victory, the Gunners reached 80 points and ensured that they finished Sunday as the sole leaders of the championship, regardless of the result of Manchester City contra Nottingham Forest. Liverpool was somewhat further relegated with 75 points after their 2-2 draw against West Ham.
Arsenal, forceful in the first half
Arsenal’s initial stage in the derby against Tottenham can be summed up in two words: practical and decisive. The Premier League leader found the result before the game.
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The difference was in the areas: the first goal with fortune from the header against Hojbjerg, the counterattack full of speed and quality that Saka sentenced with a masterful definition and the advance header from Havertz made the score 3-0.
That advantage seemed exaggerated because Arsenal had not generated many more goal situations than those it achieved and because Tottenham had had options as clear as those of its rival, but could not transform them into celebrations: two headers from Cuti Romero (one barely wide and the other returned by the stick), the millimeter offside by Micky van de Ven that invalidated the play of equality and the one-on-one that was poorly defined by Son at the end of the period.
Arsenal, which had not managed to generate its usual game circuits, took too big a prize from the first half.
Tottenham’s reaction led by Cuti Romero
The story of the match changed after the home team’s injury time goal. Cuti Romero put pressure on the Gunners’ start from the back, intercepted a pass from goalkeeper David Raya with his chest and scored with class to convert. With more than 25 minutes left, the team Angelos Postecoglou was encouraged to go in search of a tie that seemed impossible moments before.
Tottenham took possession of the ball and took advantage of the ground that Arteta’s team gave up. However, the second goal only came in the 87th minute. Son executed a penalty with quality and power that the referee sanctioned at the request of the VAR, after a foul by Declan Rice on Ben Davies.
The Spurs desperately tried to create danger to achieve equality, but they could not break the resistance of the sole leader of the championship.