Mikel Arteta masterminded yet another top performance and victory from his Arsenal team, this time in the north London derby. This has been a fixture entirely out of the hands of the Gunners for the past nine years with the previous win in 2014, in which Arteta was actually a starter.
Arsenal ran out 2-0 victors in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, goals from Hugo Lloris (into his own net) and Martin Odegaard were the difference on the day but the Gunners’ overall quality is certainly what earned them the win in the derby.
However, despite the victory, once again Mikel Arteta made it very clear to the Arsenal ownership where his side are lacking. The Gunners made their first substitute in the game in the 79th minute with Kieran Tierney coming on to play left wing-back with Oleksandr Zinchenko moving to left centre-half.
READ MORE: Mikel Arteta's next Arsenal transfer priority is set after Mykhailo Mudryk blow
The Ukrainian was then replaced by Takehiro Tomiyasu shortly after. Arsenal brought on two offensive players in Emile Smith Rowe and Fabio Vieira in the 94th minute of the game.
Smith Rowe’s return is a very welcome one, but the lateness of the switches again showed Arteta’s reservation about changing his starting eleven too early in games. Against Newcastle, only Tomiyasu was brought on, although Smith Rowe had not yet returned by that stage.
Arsenal missed out on Mykhailo Mudryk after Chelsea’s aggressive hijack of the deal. The €100million (£88.4million) bid that the Blues submitted couldn’t be matched by the Gunners and now they must search elsewhere.
No clear target has thus far emerged, but Mikel Arteta and Edu do have a strict policy on which players they are sticking to. Few would doubt it, considering it has earned them a spot eight points clear at the top of the table.
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