Tottenham 2-0 Arsenal: Five key points from Spurs derby delight

 

Tottenham reclaimed their place at the top of the Premier League table with a 2-0 win over North London rivals Arsenal, but the hosts certainly didn't have it all their own way. Adopting the exact same tactical approach that earned them the points over Manchester City and a share of the spoils at Chelsea, Jose Mourinho's side have come away from three big matches with three successive clean sheets in the league.

Tottenham don't want the ball, just the points

There is no doubt that Mourinho's mantra has sunk into these Tottenham players. Possession doesn't win football matches. Chances do, and this side is geared up to take them on the counter thanks to their two world class players. For the third league game running Spurs held well under 40 per cent of the possession in the game (30.8 per cent). For the third league game running Spurs had fewer than ten attempts at goal (6). With finishers like Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son those stats are not a concern to Tottenham's boss or, while they are winning matches, the fans.

Kane gets to ten assists in record speed

When you think of the great playmakers in world football, Harry Kane isn't traditionally among them, but perhaps he should be. In reaching ten Premier League assists already, the striker has proven beyond any lingering doubt that his scintilating start to the season in terms of creating goals as well as scoring them is far from a fluke. En route to a record-equaling 20 assists in England's top-flight last season, Kevin De Bruyne reached the midway point of said landmark in his 17th appearance of the campaign. Kane has reached ten assists in just 11 league matches by comparison, of which eight have teed up Son strikes.

 

 



Arteta's new found love of crossing

Arsenal continue to cross, and cross well, but don't have the players to benefit. They delivered 44 balls into the box against Tottenham, the most by any team in a Premier League game this season, and often into dangerous areas. However, their efforts were either not met by attacking teammates or were spurned by wayward finishing. Kieran Tierney was particularly effective in getting good balls into the box and saw the best of them headed over by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who is now without a goal in open play in ten league matches.

Aurier justifying big game selection once again

In recent years if there has been one player Tottenham fans wouldn't trust in the big games it would have been Serge Aurier but the opposite has been true in the eyes of Jose Mourinho. The Ivorian has played a pivotal role at the club since his manager's appointment but many felt the arrival of Matt Doherty would mean it was curtains for the 27-year-old. To the contrary, Aurier has fought back and retained his status in the manager's mind as the club's strongest defender at full-back. Following a rating of 7.47 against City and 7.32 at Chelsea, Aurier earned a score of 7.46 on derby day II and has surely won over some of the critics within his own fan base.

 

 

Bellerin forgets the throw in rule

In the Sky Sports commentary, Gary Neville quipped when a foul throw was awarded against Hector Bellerin that he hadn't seen one since 1986. Well, Gary clearly hasn't been watching Bellerin this season! In his 11th match of the season the Spaniard was penalised for a foul throw for the fifth time. To put that number into context, no other player has committed more than one foul throw this season, and none did so last season either. Bellerin wasn't even among the 21 players to be whistled for a foul throw in 2019/20, so the 25-yer-old appears to have suffered some form of incredibly rare amnesia with regards to the rules. Don't throw it down, Hector!