Mikel Arteta saluted Arsenal’s hunger as the gritty Gunners ignored the absence of Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard to clinch an “ugly” 1-0 win at bitter rivals Tottenham on Sunday.
Arteta’s side were without skipper Odegaard due to an ankle injury suffered on Norway duty, while fellow midfielder Rice served a suspension for his red card against Brighton.
But the Premier League title contenders dug deep with a combative display, benefitting from Tottenham’s latest display of wasteful finishing before Gabriel Magalhaes bagged the winner in the second half.
The Brazilian defender’s first goal since February made it three wins from four league games for unbeaten Arsenal as they chase a first title since 2004 after two successive runners-up finishes.
“Super happy obviously. We know what it means for our club and our people to win a north London derby,” Arteta said.
“We had moments in the game where we had to suffer. We had to adapt a little bit because of some of the players we lost.
“I prepared for Tottenham for five days, then in one moment I lost one player and in another I lost another. I didn’t sleep much!
“There were no excuses, no crying. The players have thick skin. They love the game. Sometimes to win you have to do the ugly things and they love to do that.
“I loved it, because day after day the players are hungrier and hungrier.”
Arsenal have now won on their last three visits to Tottenham, losing just once, in May 2022, in their last eight meetings with their hated neighbours.
The second placed Gunners are two points behind Manchester City as they turn their attention to their Champions League opener at Atalanta on Thursday before travelling to face Pep Guardiola’s champions next weekend.
Arteta believes Arsenal’s latest success behind enemy lines with stand them in good stead for a daunting week.
“We won three years in a row here. That is a big thing in the history of the club,” he said.
“It is a tough week coming up. The players believe already. We have a won a lot of big games, but this will give us a lot of energy and belief.”
‘Paid the price’
Since the start of last season, Arsenal have scored more goals (23) from dead-ball positions than any other team in the Premier League.
No wonder Arteta turned to embrace Nicolas Jover, the German assistant coach poached from Manchester City as Arsenal’s set-piece guru, immediately after Gabriel’s goal.
“I made the decision to bring him to City when I was there and to Arsenal,” he said.
“Together with the rest of the staff, they have injected the belief that there are many ways to win games and this is one of them, so big credit to them.”
It was another dispiriting north London derby for Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou.
The Australian has come under fire for Tottenham’s sloppy start to the season, which now includes successive defeats and only one win.
Having conceded more dead-ball goals than any top-flight team except Nottingham Forest over the last two seasons, Tottenham’s weak defending at set-pieces was ruthlessly exposed by Arsenal.
But Postecoglou insisted that wasn’t the reason for the loss, instead pointing at Tottenham’s lack of cutting edge and composure in the final third.
Son Heung-min was unusually quiet, while former Bournemouth striker Dominic Solanke struggled on his home debut after returning from injury.
“We had some good opportunities but we could have had so many more. We wasted our good play, similar to other games when we haven’t had the conviction in the front third. You keep opponents in the game when you do that,” Postecoglou said.
On Tottenham’s set-pieces woes, Postecoglou added: “We handled them well for the most part. We switched off for one and paid the price. It wasn’t just (Cristian) Romero that switched off, it was a couple of others.
“There’s a narrative for some reason that people think I don’t care about set-pieces. We work on them all the time.”
