Mikel Arteta just did something for the first time in 35 years at Arsenal

Whether or not you agree with the assessment that the weekend’s north London derby was one of Mikel Arteta‘s biggest matches as Arsenal manager, the Gunners certainly weren’t without their problems.

Arteta was given sleepless nights over the last few days with his squad of players seemingly dropping like flies.

First, it was Declan Rice’s red card against Brighton, then it was the assessment that ruled Mikel Merino out for a month. Then, arguably, came the worst news yet. Skipper Martin Odegaard laid down in a crumpled heap as his Norway team beat Austria in an impressive 2-1 win.

Although the playmaker was able to walk from the pitch it wasn’t without a limp and some pain. The early thought there is that we may not see the attacking midfielder before October’s international break.

So, with a patched-up midfield Arteta’s men took the short journey across north London to face their bitter rivals. The end result? An Arsenal win, of course.

Spurs created plenty but were ultimately fruitless with their endeavours in the final third. The Gunners struggled to create chances of their own but held firm at the back and relied on their set-pieces to get them out of trouble.

Arsenal’s best player vs Spurs

You can always rely on Bukayo Saka to come up with the goods on days like this and he duly did, delivering set-piece coach Nicolas Jover’s routines to absolute perfection.

The Gunners may well have been relieved for some strange defender from Cristian Romero but Gabriel evaded the Argentine’s attention as if he wasn’t even there before planting a bullet header into the back of the net.

Cue bedlam. Gabriel charged off with his partner in crime and best bud William Saliba in tow, darting towards the away support who were jumping up and down in the corner of the ground.

The Brazilian deservedly won the Player of the Match award for what was a very dominating display, winning two of his three duels, completing 80% of his passes and making a rather staggering eight clearances.

Unsurprisingly handed an 8/10 match rating by Football.London’s Kaya Kaynak, if summed up his battling performance well. To make matters even more intriguing, no other Premier League defender has scored more than the Arsenal centre-back since his debut in 2020/21.

So, he’s pretty good in defence and he’s a rare breed in the opposition’s penalty area too.

As a result, he has just helped Arteta achieve something we’ve not seen for 35 years.

35-year record broken

In recent years the north London derby has been a thriller. It’s been full of goals and usually, it’s been a pretty tight game. It’s certainly one of, if not the best, derby in the Premier League.

Sunday’s clash may not have ranked highly on the excitement scale but it marked a new dawn in this heated rivalry.

Arsenal are now the dominant force in north London – they usually have been – but history dictates they are enjoying one of their best runs in this fixture now for quite some time.

Arteta’s merry men are unbeaten in their last five derbies and they have now won at Spurs three games in a row. That’s a bitter pill to swallow for the Lilywhites who haven’t seen that happen now for 35 years.

Indeed, you have to go back to the 1980s for the last time Arsenal put together a run of three wins away at Tottenham.

A 3-2 victory on the 10th September 1988 saw them extend their run with goals from Brian Marwood, Alan Smith and Nigel Winterburn wrapping up all three points. For the hosts, it was Chris Waddle and Paul Gascoigne who had found the net. How nostalgic.

That was a fixture full of legends with Arsenal fielding the likes of David Rocastle, Paul Merson, David O’Leary and Tony Adams. Where does the time go, eh?

Now, the Gunners are busy building a new legacy, a new set of potential legends who are going to battle ever so hard to topple Manchester City.

Their toughest test of the new campaign will come next weekend when the Citizens await. Both sides are unbeaten but something will have to give.