Mikel Arteta left absolutely furious with £6m Arsenal player despite 1-0 win vs Tottenham

Another away trip to N17 and another victory for Arsenal, who ignored their bad luck over the last fortnight to win all three points in the North London derby.

Tottenham Hotspur simply couldn’t break down Mikel Arteta’s defence, which was expertly patrolled by the likes of Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba.

Arsenal stood firm at the back, and eventually got their reward through the big Brazilian, who will be thanking Nicolas Jover as well as Bukayo Saka for the assist.

Of course, it wasn’t all glory for Arteta’s side who often had to dig deep and defend for large periods, especially because Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard’s control was lost in the middle.

Thomas Partey stood big as well, but doesn’t quite have the aura he once did in such games.

Mikel Arteta seriously frustrated with Gabriel Martinelli’s end product

Although Arsenal eventually found their winner from a set-piece via Gabriel, Arteta’s side did have a few strong chances to score beforehand from open play.

And perhaps the best chance of the lot fell to Gabriel Martinelli in the 19th minute, when he went one-on-one with Guglielmo Vicario.

Incidentally, Martinelli also had Bukayo Saka in support to his right, who had stolen ahead of his marker Destiny Udogie.

During Sky Sports’ coverage of the moment, Arteta was visibly furious on the touchline, jumping around in frustration once Martinelli had shot and missed.

Presumably the Arsenal manager was hoping that the £6m Brazilian would square the ball rather than shoot himself – and if he did decide to go on his own, Arteta would have probably expected more conviction.

Gabriel delivers another huge North London derby performance

All in all, Arteta will have surely been pleased with Martinelli’s efforts, though, who is clearly lacking confidence in front of goal but still working so hard defensively.

It appeared as a brave call to substitute Raheem Sterling into the game when Arteta did, given that Arsenal were having to be so resolute in their shape.

But Sterling quickly got into the groove, and along with Ethan Nwaneri he helped to keep Arsenal’s urgency in their press.

As usual, Kai Havertz had got through a ton of running during the 90 minutes, and benefitted from Gabriel Jesus being introduced to the game as well.

But ultimately it was Arsenal’s Gabriel at the back who proved to be the match-winner – his defensive performance matched his towering efforts in front of goal.