Everywhere They Go…

Well, that was fun, wasn't it?

Arsenal fans are on Cloud 9, obviously. But without putting any sort of downer on things I want to try to put some context to the day. Some realism, I suppose; because at this relatively early stage of the season, and after the start Arsenal made, it's possibly too soon to get too carried away despite this absolute thrashing of a completely out-of-sorts T*ttenham side making it three wins on the bounce.

Now, a number of T*ttenham fans of my acquaintance have been suggesting recently that I have become obsessed with their club. I honestly don't believe that this is the case, but there is some context to this. Because for many years around the turn of the century T*ttenham weren't even on our radar. Arsenal were miles ahead of them, and more concerned with bigger fish - Manchester United and, later on, Chelsea. T*ttenham were just an irritating fly, merely to be swatted away. 

But in the last 10 years they have taken a number of steps forward - far enough forward to even (fortuitously as it may have been) reach the Champions League final - and Arsenal have clearly taken a number of steps back. So they are now back on our radar, and I suppose that's why I give them far more attention than they deserve. Apart from for comedy value, that is.

There are other factors. Not being in the ground for so long. The contrasting starts to the season. The Harry Kane saga and all of Arsenal's new signings. Lots of interesting ingredients to go into that pot. But the pre-match atmosphere in the ground was absolutely electric; as loud as I can remember, in fact.

And so to the game itself. Arteta went with the team that I had hoped for - I had no problem with Xhaka coming back straight in, because he'd have known precisely what to expect from this scenario; and for all his propensity to self-destruct he's an experienced and solid performer - almost all of the time. The other big decision was the choice to go with all of Odegaard, Saka and ESR and thereby relegate Pepe to the bench.

Tottenham's team sheet looked unbalanced. They had managed to worry Tuchel with their approach a week ago, but on this occasion they looked a little too flaky on paper; light in midfield and with too many unreliable characters in the eleven. And so it proved, as Nuno's players let him down all over the pitch in the face of Arteta's shape and tactics. 

And so it proved. Kane came back into midfield much less often than of late, with the plan for him to be their focal point. However, T*ttenham hardly had enough of the ball for that to work; and he looked to me like he simply doesn't want to be there. Dele Alli, with his ludicrous dreadlocks and blue highlights, is a shadow of his former self; completely shackled by the Arsenal midfield and rightly hooked at half time. Ndombele is a lovely player, but too much of an individualist to fit in with the rigid tactical requirements placed upon him. Tanganga didn't know whether to stick or twist when faced with ESR, with the additional threat of Tierney bombing on into the spaces he vacated. Hojbjerg was outnumbered, and Sanchez and Dier were... Sanchez and Dier. Only Son and Moura can have come out of the game with much credit; although I thought that young Skipp had a tidy 45 minutes.

Of course, an early goal helped. Kane was comprehensively beaten in the air by White, Xhaka's first time flick released ESR, he found Saka - who stood Regulion up and returned the ball into an area from where our new number 10 could stroke the ball into the net. 

Either side of that, both Aubameyang - twice - and Partey had more than decent long range efforts at goal as Arsenal were almost completely in charge - Son's left wing break and shot notwithstanding. And Auba got himself onto the scoresheet at the end of a quite scintillating move; not without a touch of good fortune early on as Ramsdale's risky ball out of defence saw Xhaka almost robbed by Hojbjerg right on the edge of the Arsenal penalty area. But from then on it was all about ESR and Auba. The latter exquisitely turned Tierney's 20 yard release ball into the path of ESR, whose pace decimated the T*ttenham defence, and his pass into the box was swept into the far corner of the net by Auba's left foot. Lovely stuff, and with a celebration to match as Auba mimicked the watching Thierry Henry's seminal pose; which is now immortalised in bronze, of course.

And it wasn't long before it was three. And for this the assist for the goal must go to Harry Kane, whose amusing trip over the ball deep inside Arsenal territory put Arsenal onto the front foot once more. Via Xhaka and Odegaard, the ball found its way to the all-action ESR, who released Saka. By this time Kane, determined to make up for his error, was careering back towards his own goal, but his sliding intervention merely set up Saka to pass the ball into the far corner of Lloris's net. Highly amusing, and The Emirates erupted for a third time. Accompanied, I must add, by peals of laughter as Kane's contribution was replayed on the big screen; and at this point Spurs fans had already started to head for the exits.

And so it was 3-0 at half time, and the Arsenal fans were really enjoying themselves as two new songs rang around the concourse. One celebrating our Hale End boys to the tune of Status Quo's Rocking All Over The World, and the second a celebration of our opposition's haplessness as we sang 'T*ttenham get battered everywhere they go!' As I say; an unbelievable atmosphere!

By the way, if you haven't seen Ian Wright's celebrations they are worth finding on social media. As is this still of Tony Adams' half-time grin (to be contrasted with T*ttenham 'legend' Ledley King's countenance in the background) in the Sky Sports studio...

I'm sure that it's a combination of factors, but Arteta and what are now firmly HIS players are definitely beginning to build something. And the fans can sense it. The influx of new players appears to have righted the ship now, we're all on board with it, and Arteta is riding that wave.  I've not seen him so animated on the sidelines before, and his outpourings of joy show us quite what the success means to him. There can be no excuses now, of course; he has his players and he has a pretty healthy squad. Of course, we're only successive defeats from the next crisis, but I do sense that a corner has been turned. As I've said before, I'd really like him to succeed. We've all doubted him in the past, but perhaps the tide had finally turned?

But back to the game. At half time T*ttenham could only improve, of course. And with the changes Nuno made they did just that. Of course, at 3-0 it's easier to stick than twist, and that's what any person's mentality would tell him to do. But the half wasn't without its hairy moments as better shape and discipline saw T*ttenham finally wake up. 

Skipp had a tidy game, as I mentioned earlier, and Gil added a deal of energy when he came on. Kane forced a save out of Ramsdale, then should have scored when Tomayisu slipped (he was probably offside, actually). And he should almost certainly have had a penalty when he tangled with White on the edge of the area. And finally Ramsdale made a fantastic late save from Moura's dipping effort, just finger-tipping it onto the bar and away. So it could have been close; but on the other hand Arsenal had been prepared to sit back for the entire second half and so invited them to improve.

But on the whole this was as comprehensive a victory as one could have hoped for. Whether it's the start of something bigger remains to be seen, and whilst a challenge for the Top 4 places still looks remote, we'll be able to judge progress more when Arsenal come up against Brighton, Villa and Leicester over the next few weeks, before the formidable challenge of Liverpool at Anfield.

And so we move happily on to next week's visit to Brighton. Let's hope that things can continue in the same vein. COYG! 

And let's not forget what this gentleman said to T*ttenham...