Mikel Arteta, Victor Osimhen and Gabriel Magalhaes
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Sunday was a huge day for Arsenal. Even at this early stage of the season, the North London derby felt like a crucial one for Mikel Arteta’s team in context of the wider campaign. Defeat would have left them five points behind Manchester City ahead of next weekend’s trip to the Etihad. It would have put them under huge pressure going into that game. The prospect of trailing City by eight points would have been a very real one and while the season has barely even got going, that still would have felt like an almost insurmountable gap to make up. So it was absolutely crucial for Arsenal to get something at Spurs and they did that superbly. I thought it was an excellent performance given the circumstances.
With so many players out they could easily have felt a bit sorry for themselves, but instead they seemed determined to prove a point to everyone that was already writing them off. They were resilient, they were strong and they found a way to win. That’s what you need if you want to win the biggest honours.
Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba were magnificent yet again. In my opinion they are the best centre-back partnership in world football. They are just two defenders who love to defend. You could see they were relishing the situation they were in on Sunday. I never felt like Spurs were going to get through them, especially after Gabriel had headed Arsenal in front. Saliba obviously gets lots of headlines and that’s understandable, but I do think that Gabriel is criminally under-rated at times.
I know that Arsenal have started the process of trying to extend his contract and I think that is very important. I think the discussions are still at quite an early stage, but he absolutely warrants a new deal. He’s grown into such a leader since he first arrived and is up there with the very best there is in his position, as he proved once again against Spurs.
I also thought Jurrien Timber was excellent in the derby. It was his best performance yet in an Arsenal shirt. Kai Havertz was another player who ran himself into the ground for his side. Both of those players epitomised the type of spirit Arsenal needed to get the job done with so many absentees. It was a proper team performance, one that Arsenal are going to have to replicate against City next weekend.
I thought Spurs were really poor on Sunday to be honest. I expected them to really take the game to Arsenal giving the players that Mikel Arteta’s side were missing. But after a bright opening 15 minutes they barely laid a glove on them. It just looked like they had no idea how they were going to break Arsenal down.
I do like Ange Postecoglou and he does like to play football in the right way. But even the Celtic fans who adored him north of the border warned that he doesn’t really have a Plan B. That always seemed to cost Celtic when they played teams who were superior to them in the Champions League and right now it looks like it is costing Spurs.
Given who Arsenal were missing on Sunday I turned up at the ground expecting to see a Tottenham side who believed they could get one over their neighbours. But instead I saw a team who looked like they had no real belief that they could get through such a good defence. There was no real quality or guile. If I was a Spurs fan I would have been really disappointed with that performance and would be a bit concerned about what was to come this season.
It was absolutely essential for Arsenal to get Mikel Arteta’s contract sorted. There was never any doubt that it would happen. Both sides of the talks were confident it was always a matter of when, not if, the extension was signed. For Arsenal it’s obviously a big boost. They have kept hold of one of the best young managers in the world and can now continue to build on all the great work that has been done in the last five years. For Arteta though, these next three years are massive in terms of what he is trying to achieve at Arsenal. He has spent the past five years righting a ship that had drifted horribly off course and he has done that superbly.
He and Edu have now built one of the most valuable squads on the planet and all the ingredients are in place to bring real success to the Emirates. But that success will now be measured in trophies. If the past five years were about getting Arsenal back into a position to compete with the best again, then the next three are about silverware. It’s probably the hardest step that has to be taken, given it’s Manchester City that are still in front of them. But it’s a challenge that must be met.
It would be a real shame if this squad doesn’t get the trophies it deserves and Arteta knows that. He is all about winning. That is what drives him on and he believes he can lead Arsenal to the biggest trophies. That’s why he signed this new contract. He was never going to go anywhere else, despite links to clubs like Barcelona and PSG, because he knows his job in north London is far from finished.
I saw Victor Osimhen marked his Galatasaray debut with a goal at the weekend. Inevitably, some Arsenal fans were quick to pounce on that and use it as a reason why the club should look to bring him in during the January window. I don’t know the exact ins and outs of it, but it appears he does have a break clause in his loan agreement that could see another club land him in January for a lower fee than his original release clause from Napoli.
I just don’t really see it happening though in terms of Arsenal. As I’ve said before, I’ve never really been told about any Arsenal interest in Osimhen since the summer of 2022, when they ended up moving for Gabriel Jesus instead. So I would be surprised if they go for him in January. I think, if and when they do go for another striker, it might be a slightly different profile to the Nigeria international.
And anyway, right now they are very happy with what Kai Havertz is offering them as the central striker. Havertz has been exceptional so far this season. I thought he was superb against Spurs on Sunday, even if he didn’t get himself on the scoresheet.
