Takeaways: Arsenal 3-1 Spurs

Apologies for the lateness of this post, but a combination of a hectic week and my desire to hold back from an emotional reaction to an emotional fixture has culminated in the late publication of

Please welcome my colleague and new writer to the site, Mitch, who has already got stuck in producing all kinds of content for you to sink your teeth into over the past few days – feel free to contribute on debates regarding Emerson Royal and Hugo Lloris, read on our interest in a Bundesliga defender or the history of the fixture against tomorrow’s opponents Eintracht Frankfurt, all cracking reads.

But for now – if the masochist in me can be forgiven – my attention will now turn to reflect upon the chaos that unfolded at the Emirates on Saturday afternoon.

My simple takeaway from the match was this: an ostensibly close encounter for the best part of an hour – in which the irresistible force of Arsenal met the immovable object of Spurs – that was ultimately settled by our failure to pick out the right pass on the break, and of course, two moments of madness from Hugo Lloris and Emerson Royal.

Now of course, it may seem ridiculous to call this a “close encounter” given how comfortable Arsenal’s victory was in the end, but think back to the critical moments at 1-1 where we had chances to cause serious damage on the break: Perisic’s wayward effort, Son’s overhit pass to Kane, Richarlison’s overhit pass to Kane and his miss from the early free-kick (which may very well have been rendered offside due to Dier’s involvement).

Even the build-up to our penalty started with a poor pass from Son to Richarlison that initially forced him wider of Ramsdale’s goal than he would have wanted. Let’s not also forget Romero’s burst forward at the start of the second half where he should have picked out Son in the middle.

Of course, pinpointing these “what if” moments is in danger of drifting into the territory of absurdist arguments like “what if my aunt was my uncle”, but they do help illustrate my point that the game was a lot closer than the ultimate scoreline and ‘feel’ of the defeat would make out.

Indeed, Saturday’s proceedings in this sense played out very similarly to events in Lison against Sporting CP the other day, predominantly in highlighting how wasting such counter-attacking moments is near-fatal given the way we play our game: soak up pressure, let the opponents faff about with the ball in midfield, then strike them quickly on the break with devastating accuracy.

Now that’s all well and good, but when your attacks are neither devastating nor accurate, the whole picture looks a whole lot worse. The picture looks even more damning when you combine poor timing of runs and decision-making, weak passing, and lacklustre forward-thinking with simply moronic defending.

Hugo Lloris, love him as I do, had a howler, and at this stage in his career, such mistakes are just an ingrained feature of his game. He’s saved us more often than cost us over the years, as Mitch’s article exclaims, but he’s got to hold his hand up for Jesus’ goal.

As for Royal – the less said about him the better. Now we can sit here and argue the legitimacy of the red card all the way up until the Summer Solstice, but the truth is, Royal should not have given Anthony Taylor the decision to make. Once he goes in for the needless challenge he’s automatically become a hostage to fortune, and I think he can have no complaints – the stupidity of the challenge alone was worthy of punishment, so let’s leave it at that.

The positive of the sending-off is that with both Spence and Doherty’s fitness levels being boosted by their game-time over the international break, the timing of Emerson’s suspension could have been worse.

All in all, Arsenal were worthy winners and are looking like a very decent outfit, and fair play to them. However, if our attackers were on song and our defensive unit had had the wherewithal to use at least one of their brain cells on Saturday afternoon, we’re very possibly looking at a different scoreline. All ifs and buts of course, but let’s take it on the chin and move on to Frankfurt tomorrow. COYS!