SP*RS 0–1 ARSENAL: BY THE NUMBERS
38 – Premier League games played by Declan Rice last season. He started in 37 of them. Martin Ødegaard featured in 35 league fixtures, while only William Saliba accrued more league minutes than the missing key midfield duo.
Yet before kick-off, a bullish Mikel Arteta refused to use it as an excuse and watched as his depleted Arsenal side claimed their third successive derby win at Tottenham for the first time since 1988.
As expected, we were more than happy to let Sp*rs have the ball. During the first 45 minutes, Mikel Arteta’s side completed just 96 passes. That’s the fewest passes we’ve completed in the first half of a Premier League game in over two years – since the 86 that found a teammate against Newcastle back in May 2022.
By the end of 90 minutes, we’d had just 37% possession. Yet Sp*rs failed to register a big chance, while Arsenal were awarded two and recorded a higher expected goals total despite taking eight fewer shots, as Mikel Areta’s plan played out perfectly.
2 – Arsenal’s two lowest possession averages (on record) in a Premier League game against Sp*rs have both come in 2024. We won both.
467 – Completed passed by Sp*rs, with just 11 (2%) of those being played into our penalty area.
38 – Passes attempted by David Raya (joint first overall), with his 25 passes completed ranking third in Arsenal colours. His pass completion percentage of 66% was somewhat expectedly only better than three outfield players who started (Gabi Martinelli, Kai Havertz, and Jurrien Timber), having launched 22 long passes, which made up 58% of all his passes.
On Raya – I thought his distribution looked a bit off with the first two punts up field but he just got better as the game went on and is a big part of our defence now. A defence that is the best in the league.
26 – Crosses played by Sp*rs, with just 7 finding a teammate and only 4 resulting in (relatively tame) shots.
I thought our defensive principles were displayed at an exceptional level during Sunday’s derby. We tracked runners inside and out, relentlessly doubled up on wingers, kept every outfield player tight to their man, stayed strong in challenges, and blocked passing lanes. This prevented Tottenham from playing their game, leading them to resort to spamming crosses, which were effectively dealt with by Gabriel and Saliba.
8 – Clearances by Gabriel (first overall). Kudos to Kai Havertz, who finished the game with five clearances.
Arsenal’s man of the match, Gabriel, also blocked two shots, made two successful tackles from three attempts without committing a foul, and recorded two interceptions.
15 – Shots for Sp*rs, with five taken from outside Arsenal’s area.
0.7 – xG registered for Sp*rs; this is just the third time under Ange Postecoglou they’ve been held to 0.7 or fewer expected goals.
0.05 – xG per shot for Tottenham. The lowest Sp*rs have registered under Postecoglou.
3 – Three of Arsenal’s last four Premier League goals against Tottenham have come from corners.
3 – Only three players have scored more headed goals for Arsenal than Gabriel’s 10 league goals in Premier League history: Giroud with 27, Wright with 14, and Adebayor with 12.
0.17 – xG for Gabriel Martinelli’s chance in the 19th minute. Regardless of whether you think he should have passed to Saka, it’s clear he’s working his socks off and doing everything right up to the point where he needs to make a decision in the penalty area. Gabi needs something to go right to boost his confidence, and hopefully, he’ll regain the form he had a couple of seasons ago.
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Following a home draw against Brighton before the international break, we needed to secure a result against Sp*rs, especially with a trip to the Etihad scheduled for this coming Sunday. Going there without Rice, without Ødegaard, and missing Zinchenko, Calafiori, and Tomiyasu was never going to be easy. However, if you watch the game back—away from the intensity of the occasion—it’s pretty evident we were hardly troubled, and the numbers suggest little difference.
