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Little banter with Arsenal, who have 21 points from 24 and have settled into the Premier’s lead to show their return to the competitive forefront fulfills plans for the club, who recruited Mikel from Manchester City Arteta in December 2019, set three Years to settle back into positions of Champions League entry. This bubbly arsenal can go even further, the roster that hosts the teams with the lowest average age (around 24 years old) in the competition. This Saturday he surpassed Tottenham (3-1), his arch-rivals in north London, and is already looking to his next challenge, none other than Liverpool and once again the Emirates, a stadium that has been able to vibrate again after the last six seasons not finish the championship in the top four. “We could feel the connection to our people and the energy they gave us,” Arteta said at the end of the game. Arsenal are four points clear of City, who play their derby against Manchester United at the Etihad on Sunday. Further afield are Liverpool, who have stumbled again (3-3) at Anfield, this time against Brighton, to remain eleven points adrift of the leaders with a game in a row.
3
Aaron Ramsdale, William Saliba, Ben White (Takehiro Tomiyasu, min. 88), Zinchenko (Tierney, min. 72), Gabriel, Xhaka, Martinelli, Thomas (Albert-Mboyo Sambi Lokonga, min. 72), Odegaard (Fabio Daniel Vieira , min. 79), Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus (Eddie Nketiah, min. 79)
1
Lloris, Cristian Romero, Eric Dier, Clement Lenglet (Davinson Sánchez, min. 70), Emerson, Perisic (Yves Bissouma, min. 70), Hojbjerg (Oliver Skipp, min. 74), Rodrigo Bentancur, Richarlison (Ryan Sessegnon, min . . 70), Kane and Heung-Min Son (Matt Doherty, Min. 71)
Gates 1-0 mins 19Thomas. 1-1 min. 30: Kane. 2-1 min. 48: Gabriel Jesus. 3-1 min. 66: Xhaka.
referee AnthonyTaylor
Yellow cards William Saliba (min. 77), Martinelli (min. 84) and Eric Dier (min. 92)
Red cards Emerson (min. 61)
“That’s what happens when you have faith in a coach,” said Antonio Conte, explaining Arsenal’s plan with the new coach from Gipuzkoa. The Italian Tottenham manager doesn’t usually praise, of course he’s also at a time when negotiations are under way to extend his contract, which expires in June. So far this season he has only lost to Sporting Luso in the Champions League. So he emerged unbeaten at the Emirates with Premier’s Day, but also a prisoner of a story that shows he’s won in just two of his last 38 visits to Arsenal’s field, be it at the Emirates or old Highbury.
The data hurt Spurs, who won their last derby away from home in 2010 and when the ball started rolling they found a roller. Arsenal play with passion and at full speed, set in attack in a 2-3-5 that nods to Arteta’s years on Guardiola’s right. Spurs folded with the switch-hitting Perisic as the key figure. Located on the left flank, he formed a five-man defense in his team’s intense retreat, but expanded in attack and opened up the field so Arsenal suffered without the ball. That double face from Tottenham helped him stay in the game, although Martinelli shot the post after two minutes and Thomas put the Gunners ahead with an inside shot from the edge that projected the squad. Ten Tottenham players were between the ball and his goal. Arteta doesn’t stop begging the former Atlético player to surrender to this fate.
Scared whenever they could run, Tottenham found the tie after one of those gallops in a misguided release from Xhaka that started a fire that ended with a penalty from Gabriel to Richarlison. Harry Kane did not forgive when half an hour was played. A lot of things had happened and even more that would happen in a game played at a hell of a pace. Gabriel Jesus arrived, one of the keys to Arsenal’s move forward, the ideal striker for Arteta. Both knew each other from City and knew what they wanted and how to get it: Mobility is the key. From there, Gabriel Jesus is beyond words because not only does he finish, but he also has dribbling or association ability. His presence at the World Cup is not certain, in fact he was not included in the last call-up for Brazil, but Gabriel Jesus is in the best moment of his career because he has not lost his catch in that area either. As soon as the second half began, he acted as an opportunist to scrape the ball from Lloris, imprecisely in a ruckus mounted with teammate Romero. Gabriel Jesus punished them with the goal that put Arsenal on the winning track.
“We knew exactly what we wanted,” said Granit Xhaka at the end of the game. After a tumultuous period in the team and gathering troubles with a sector of the supporters, having even lost the captaincy in the days of Unai Emery and being a foot and a half from the Emirates, the Swiss midfielder is acting as a leader. Arteta has untied the reins and the presence of Thomas allows him to act as a finisher. He signed the sentence when Spurs were already playing with ten men. “The game was over there,” said Conte. With half an hour to go and Emerson kicked Martinelli on the ankle in a harmless move on the edge of the field, an imprudence, a bold stain that ended any hope of a reply for Tottenham.
The rest of the day confirmed Liverpool’s problems, who were level with Brighton after two goals, took the lead in the closing stages of the tie and suffered a blow from Belgium’s Trossard, who scored the three goals in one of the Prime Minister’s revelations, at this point fourth Desperate at his team’s permeability, Klopp entrusted the offensive strategy to the imagination of Roberto Firmino, revived by the renewed absence of Darwin Núñez. The German coach didn’t give his millionaire signing a chance until the 89th minute.
Chelsea were also struggling and failed to beat Crystal Palace (1-2) until the closing moments of a game that began to lose, in which Aubameyang scored and the talented Conor Gallagher was sentenced with a genius from the area’s balcony, which he did not celebrate: he had been loaned to the Palace where he was Captain-General and they long for his return.
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