Spurs players and fans had been waiting for the rescheduled North London Derby since the original fixture in January. After the Arsenal camp asked for the clash to be postponed, it was a long wait for the match to be played at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
In the reverse tie, Mikel Arteta's side came out on top, winning 3-1 in a game that involved a lacklustre performance from the Lilywhites. Thursday night was arguably the biggest North London Derby in years.
Not only do both sides want the bragging rights of beating their north London rivals, but it was also due to the points that were up for grabs. Ahead of the match, Tottenham were four points behind Arsenal but after their 3-0 win, they now sit just a point behind, with two games left to play.
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As always, the game included twists and turns with Spurs getting a penalty in the first quarter of the game and then the Gunners having to deal with the sending off of Rob Holding after the half-hour mark. Aside from those two decisions, the home side put on a solid performance both on and off the pitch, with some standout display's from individuals and noise from the crowd continuing throughout the whole game.
The Lilywhites dominated possession and shots, showed their composure and experience and Antonio Conte's tactics couldn't be matched with those of Arsenal. In his post-match press conference he echoed the importance of the clash.
"For sure a good performance and from the start until the end, the approach to manage the game was very positive. You know very well when there are these type of games, these must-win games it's never easy because today we had only one result, to get three points, to win, only because it was a derby, a north London derby and we knew very well the importance for the fans," Conte admitted.
When speaking to the media ahead of the derby, the Italian was asked if he was frustrated that the match had not yet been played, when it had been originally scheduled for January. "To speak now about what happened in the past is not useful," he explained.
"For sure, it was very strange that our game was postponed for Covid and Arsenal didn't have one player with Covid. We lost a game 3-0 [to Rennes] because Premier League didn't want to move our game when we had 9 or 10 players with Covid.
"At that time, it was unfair what happened, but now this is the past and we have to be focussed on the present and try to get the best result." The second North London Derby of the season was originally set to be played on Sunday January 16, which would've come after Tottenham's second defeat of the month to Chelsea and before the thrilling 3-2 victory against Leicester.
The Spurs camp believed it was an unfair decision for the derby to be postponed, especially given their own past Covid problems. Tottenham fans took to social media claiming that their north London rivals had 'bottled' the game and both sides had to wait almost four months for the match to be played.
This didn't go in Arsenal's favour as in the end, the game wasn't even close, which is what many were expecting. The Gunners went into the fixture on the back of four wins and were in better form than Conte's side, who had won one, drawn two and lost one of their last four.
At the time it seemed as if Spurs were at a disadvantage by Arsenal not having to play the fixture, but looking back after last night, that couldn't have been further from the truth. The original date of the game would've fallen in the period when both Eric Dier and Son Heung-min were injured.
Dier made an appearance against Chelsea, after the Leicester victory, but would've been out for the Arsenal game with a thigh injury. The South Korean picked up his knock in the 2-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Chelsea and didn't return until the following month.
On Thursday night, the duo were both key players in the Tottenham performance, at both ends of the field. The defender made four clearances and two interceptions, whilst Son scored Spurs' third goal and made three key passes.
The original fixture was meant to be played during the January transfer window. However, the Lilywhites left most of their business until deadline day. This means that Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski both wouldn't have been in the capital, had the game have been played when it was meant to.
The former Juventus duo have both immediately broken into Conte's regular starting line-up and settled in smoothly to their new side. Bentancur had 94.8 per cent passing accuracy against Arsenal, producing two key passes and three interceptions.
The Swede didn't make as much of an impact as he has in previous games, but in his first North London Derby still worked hard to create for his team and added the required energy in attack. All four members of the starting lineup played a key part in the match against Arsenal on Thursday and if the game had been played in January, Conte wouldn't have had the advantage of them.
"It wasn't a good situation because we were ready to play at that time and to see the game postponed in a strange way made us angry. But this is the past, the present is different," the 52-year-old admitted on the game being rescheduled, after the victory.
Now both sides look to their final two games of the season, as the battle for a top-four spot goes continues and the end of the 2021/22 campaign looms.
