A second half Gabriel header was enough for the Gunners as Spurs struggled to create any clear cut chances. "Super happy obviously," Mikel Arteta said after the game. "We know what it means to our club and our people to win a North London Derby. We have the power to make them very happy so hopefully we achieved that.
"On the performance we had good moments and others where we had to suffer. We suffered because we had to adapt the plan because of the players that we had available. I loved it. The second we started to get that news, the team got hungrier and hungrier to play that game. It’s a big compliment to everybody at the club to behave in a certain way. It’s a tough week coming and instead of finding any excuses we did the opposite. We faced the challenge, played with courage and acknowledged the qualities we had to win the game."
Arteta admitted that he was forced to change his game plan just a few days before the encounter after a number of first team stars picked up injuries while on international duty. With Declan Rice already suspended, things got worse for Arteta when Martin Odegaard picked up an ankle injury while away with Norway. Riccardo Calafiori and Oleksandr Zinchenko were also not part of the match day squad for the North London Derby, with both suffering with calf injuries.
"I looked ahead to Spurs for four or five days and I had a super clear plan how to do it," the Arsenal boss said. "I prepared all the meetings, the training sessions and everything. Then I get the news that we’ve lost a player, and then another player and then another player, and I had to completely change it and adapt the plan to the players that we had available. So, it was a great challenge."
With the changes made, it was clear from the off that Arteta was happy for his team to sit in and let Tottenham have plenty of the ball. This essentially allowed the Gunners to be solid defensively, with Spurs struggling to find a way through the away team's 4-4-2 formation off the ball.
In fact, there was one moment during the first half which opitimised Arsenal's way of playing at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Arteta was seen bellowing orders at Bukayo Saka as the Englishman was not positioned exactly where his manager wanted. It appeared that Arteta was shouting at Saka to go inside to make the team's shape more compact, thus making it harder for Tottenham to play through the lines.
The Spaniard was seen on the Sky Sports TV cameras shouting at a number of players throughout the match, while also making all sorts of gestures with his hands. Ultimately, whatever the Spaniard said to his squad worked as Arsenal came away with a hard-fought 1-0 win.
Next up for Arsenal in the league is a trip to Etihad Stadium to face Man City. Pep Guardiola's side are currently two points above the Gunners at the top of the Premier League so next Sunday's encounter promises to be an entertaining affair.
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