Revenge and retribution for the Gunners as superb second half performance was enough to salvage all three points against 10 man Tottenham on Saturday afternoon.
In a fixture that tends to divide the beautiful city of London, there is no doubt that viewers were in for a treat when Arsenal and Tottenham locked horns at the Emirates.
The Gunners started on the front foot as they enjoyed majority of the possession while Antonio Conte’s men were forced to defend.
There seems to be a slight change in the ambiance among Arsenal fans, with many people associated with the club drowning in a state of optimism that perhaps this could be their season.
The Gunners wasted no time in imposing themselves on the game as Ghana’s Thomas Partey who did not play any of black stars’ friendly games during the International break due to injury concerns, scored the games opener with a brilliant first time finish outside the box after latching on to a pass from Ben White and World Cup winner Hugo lloris couldn’t quite react on time to make a save.
After conceding the opener, Tottenham started to grow in confidence and they began to ask questions of Arsenal’s defence through counter attacks.
Their reward would eventually come as Richarlison was judged to have been illegally brought down by Gabriel Magalhães in the box as they were awarded the penalty which Harry Kane through his first touch in the opposition’s box made no mistake from the spot as he sloted home the equalizing goal by placing it in the middle while Ramsdale was sent the other way.
With the scoreline locked at 1-1 during the first stanza, that only made the afternoon’s second half showdown more intriguing.
The Gunners have not lost a game at home to their better rivals Tottenham in the Premier League since 2010 and in an attempt to try and maintain that record Mikel Arteta’s troops came out guns blazing with an avelach of attacks on Tottenham’s goal while doing brilliant to maintain possession.
Conte’s men couldn’t quite wither the storm, the team that was partly responsible for Arsenal’s failure to secure Champions League football when they emerged as 3-0 victors against the Gunners last season, this time around they wouldn’t quite rise to the occasion.
Gabriel Jesus continued his goal scoring form after pouncing on an error from Lloris who couldn’t hold on to the ball after a stinging shoot from Bakayo Saka who was voted men’s team player of the year with only four minutes of second half football played.
Things would soon go from bad to worse for Tottenham as referee Anthony Taylor did not hesitate to show the red card to Emerson Royal whose nasty challenge on Martinelli was enough to send him for an early shower to reduce the visiting side to 10 men.
Martinelli and Xhaka combined on Tottenham’s box as Xhaka’s left footed strike gave Arsenal their third goal of the match.
Tottenham made a string of challenges to try and reignite a way back into the game but nothing changed as Arsenal maintained their led and matched on to a 3-1.
