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London. — Mikel Arteta pumped his fists to the stands while Gabriel threw his shirt into the crowd in celebration as a period of abject misery for Arsenal came to a victorious conclusion against Tottenham with a 2-1 win.
The stakes are always high in the north London derby, but much was riding on this one for Arteta and his team, as a season that started with so much optimism and expectation threatened to flounder.
Arsenal came into the meeting with Spurs on the back of damaging home defeats by Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup, and by Manchester United in the FA Cup.
The scenes at the end of this win over Spurs were wild, noisy and laced with relief as much as celebration. Arsenal had known anything less than victory over their arch-rivals would put a serious dent in their title pursuit.
It demonstrated just how much this 2-1 win meant. Arsenal are now four points behind Liverpool, having played a game more, but this must now be the catalyst for action on and off the pitch.
Arsenal, as is their habit, made a very large meal of beating a mediocre Spurs, struck down by injuries but still well short of the standards expected.
The warning signals flashed for Arsenal when, after almost total domination of possession, Spurs took the lead through Son Heung-min after 25 minutes.
Arsenal managed to turn their fortunes around to claim three vital points and are now, for all their recent failings, right back in the title race.
The door is ajar for Arsenal and Arteta, but they will struggle to open it any further unless they do what seems plainly obvious and sign a striker to give them a cutting edge.
In a glass half-full assessment, midfielder Declan Rice told BBC Radio 5 Live: “We’re probably unlucky we didn’t score 10 tonight.”
Not strictly true. No luck involved.
Arsenal had 14 shots with only four on target, their equaliser coming from Dominic Solanke’s own goal, resulting from a 40th minute corner that should not have been given — as the final touch before the ball went out of play had come off Leandro Trossard rather than Pedro Porro.
Trossard then compounded the agony for Spurs with a winner four minutes later with a low drive that should have been saved by keeper Antonin Kinsky.
Other than the goals, Arsenal only had those four shots on target with Kinsky making three comfortable saves. — BBC Sport.
Online Reporter