Arsenal restart title bid after Trossard completes fightback against Spurs | Premier League

Arsenal could feel the heat. Back-to-back home defeats in the domestic cups had ensured that. One has pushed them to the brink of elimination in the Carabao Cup ahead of the semi-final second leg in Newcastle. The second on penalties against Manchester United in the FA Cup was terminal.

Mikel Arteta’s team could also sense opportunities. Liverpool’s draw at Nottingham Forest had ensured that. So the equation was clear. Manage the event against the team they love to hate the most. And win to move to within four points of Liverpool at the top, even though they have played an extra game.

There would be a blow when Tottenham, whose recent Premier League form is an embarrassment, took the lead through their captain, Son Heung-min, midway through the first half. What a tonic it was for them and for him as he negotiates a personally trying season.

But the story was about Arsenal sticking their chests out and asserting themselves, running hard and winning the duels, and simply doing more than Spurs, who were so tame, so lacking in basic gusto. Profligacy was Arsenal’s nemesis in the cup games and they also knew that finding an edge was imperative.

They did so with a devastating one-two combination before the break. First, they forced a Dominic Solanke own goal on a corner; they have scored 27 times from corners in the league since the start of last season, 10 this time. No one can match them in this area. Or stop them. And then Leandro Trossard found a way to work the ball through Antonin Kinsky’s hands. It wasn’t voodoo; just a nightmare moment for the new Spurs goalkeeper.

There were still misses from Arsenal – most notably from the captain, Martin Ødegaard, late on; an inability to fully drive home the superiority they enjoyed. While the goal line was tight, Tottenham were never out of it, although they struggled to create. At the very end, Pedro Porro crashed a shot from an unfriendly angle against the outside of a post. A Spurs equalizer would have been a bolt from the blue.

It is now six defeats in nine league games for them; only five points from the series. Ange Postecoglou had every right to be unhappy here. The performance was not good enough. Injuries remain a mitigating factor and the 1-0 win against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg has helped – along with decent placement in the Europa League table. But since it mattered so much here, the Spurs went with a whimper.

Arsenal had tore into Postecoglou’s team from the first whistle and refused to give them an inch, forcing turnovers high up. Kinsky was keen on corner kicks and wide free kicks. He also had a few odd moments on the ball.

In 22 minutes, Tottenham got barely halfway over. And yet, when they did, the game would turn. Solanke was denied by a decisive Gabriel Magalhãe intervention and from the corner Dejan Kulusevski beat Declan Rice to open up a clear shooting chance. David Raya blocked. When Spurs won their next corner, they made it count and Son saw his volley from the edge of the area deflected off William Saliba.

What did Arsenal clearly create in the first half of the first period? Rice set up Trossard, who was denied by a brave block by Radu Dragusin, but the demons of recent games began to circle, the crowd nervous. Raheem Sterling, a surprise choice ahead of Gabriel Martinelli, couldn’t get anything going.

Arsenal bent the game to their will and the catalyst had to be a corner which was awarded controversially as the final touch came from Trossard and not Porro. When Rice bent it over, Gabriel leapt with Dragusin beyond the far post and the ball appeared to come off the Spurs defender before he squirmed past Solanke and headed in.

Arsenal completed the turnaround when Thomas Partey robbed Yves Bissouma and got the home side going through Ødegaard, who crossed to the left for Trossard. Kinsky appeared to have shot the tire. He got the arm down and over in time. It was just that the ball bounced and went over it. Kinsky buried his face in the turf. He knew it.

What did Spurs have in response? Postecoglou felt they were better in the second half, but not by much. Solanke had a shot blocked and there was the late pulse-quickener from Porro, but Arsenal – with Myles Lewis-Skelly excellent at left-back ahead of the watching England manager, Thomas Tuchel – had more of it; the better openings. Kai Havertz could have done better with a header from a corner, Rice tapped Kinsky and Ødegaard really should have scored.