Tottenham were outsmarted by savvy Arsenal and Mikel Arteta’s secret weapon

Bukayo Saka curled a corner over, Gabriel headed in, 1-0 to the Arsenal.

One more reminder of Mikel Arteta’s clever game-plans and one more well-deserved bonus for Nicolas Jover, their set-piece coach.

This north London derby was decided in a three-second blur of movement. But it was so well planned, so well executed and shows why Arsenal have become such a savvy, successful force under Arteta. 

It’s the appliance of science. Missing Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard, Arteta adopted a more pragmatic approach. Two defensive midfielders, Jorginho and Thomas Partey, patrolled in front of the back-four. Two wingers, Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, dropped back to support their full-backs. Leandro Trossard joined Kai Havertz in leading the press.

There were echoes of Arsenal’s approach at the Etihad Stadium last season; come away with something. 

Arsenal knew their set-piece prowess gave them a good chance. So did their counter-attacking through Saka, Havertz and Martinelli. The plan worked to perfection. Saka’s break down the inside-right channel brought a corner after 63 minutes.

Heading to the corner flag, Saka ran in front of the Arsenal fans leaning over the electronic hoardings, cheering him, saluting him, also knowing what was coming. They’d scored 22 goals from set-pieces since the start of last season (not including penalties). 

Jover comes fully alive when the ball is dead. When the Berlin-born Frenchman was at Brentford, I sat in on one of his set-piece sessions with Thomas Frank’s players. Jover was so meticulous that he explained to the team the number of times their next opponents sent throw-ins back.

The 42-year-old is data-driven, but also such an interesting, engaging character that he relieves the routine of constant drills of potential boredom. 

And so his players made their moves, dragging white shirts out of position, creating the space for Gabriel to exploit.

Havertz raced from left to right towards the near-post, taking Brennan Johnson out of the area Gabriel would attack. Martinelli made a similar darting run, taking Dominic Solanke out of the defensive equation.

Ben White had been engaged in a tangle of a Tango at corners with James Maddison, and wrestled him goalwards here, not only out of the space in the six-yard box that Gabriel was targeting but into Vicario. The Spurs keeper, often vulnerable at set-pieces, could not come to punch because White had Maddison blocking the way.

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William Saliba pinned Micky van de Ven in front of Vicario, and the Spurs defender realised what was happening, and tried to force him away. Too late.

The men in black weren’t at the dark arts, these were legitimate tactics.

Spurs simply weren’t strong enough physically or mentally. They weren’t smart enough tactically. They didn’t respond quickly enough.

Gabriel made his move from his starting station slightly to the left of the penalty spot. Cristian Romero was meant to be marking Gabriel but, not for the first time, failed to concentrate fully. Romero, Romero, wherefore art thou? Nowhere. 

Gabriel accelerated towards the six-yard box, and finally Romero responded, chasing him, but manoeuvred away by a push from Gabriel.

The push was not strong enough to draw the attention of Jarred Gillett, the referee. Gabriel tore into the free space, rose untroubled to meet Saka’s perfect corner. Any chance Dejan Kulusevski had of intervening was curtailed by Partey’s presence.

It was like an NFL offensive play, a hole punched for a runner to exploit, and Gabriel duly headed in. 

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The lead seized, Arsenal could simply rely on the anticipation and determination of their centre-halves to keep Spurs at bay.

They also had their pace on the counter to worry Spurs. Arteta sent on more pace and more pace in Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Ethan Nwaneri to see the game out. Nwaneri, only 17 years old, again confirmed his huge potential with his intelligent use of the ball. 

Arteta left nothing to chance. When a loose ball had bounced his way earlier in the game, he dummied it so Maddison couldn’t take a quick throw.

This is such a huge week on the road for his team with Atalanta up next in Bergamo on Thursday and then onto the Etihad to face City on Sunday. Arsenal have started this testing period strongly. 

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If this was a triumph for Arteta, this was a dispiriting afternoon for Ange Postecoglou. His approach was typically bold, setting Spurs up as 2-1-4-3 in possession.

Postecoglou relied on the pace of Van de Ven to guard against breakaways. He let Kulusevski and Maddison break forward from central midfield.

But Spurs lacked a cutting edge. Solanke hesitated when gifted a glimpse of goal and the view was instantly blocked.

Spurs players kept crossing and failing to cut out the first defender, usually the outstanding Gabriel or Saliba. Postecoglou also didn’t have any game-changers on the bench to come on and rescue Spurs.

Their fans seethed with frustration at the lack of threat and also with Arsenal running the clock down.

Arsenal, Arteta and Jover were simply too streetwise for Spurs.

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