Arsenal survived a second-half comeback from Tottenham to win 3-2 at the home of their rivals and keep alive their hopes of ending the season as Premier League champions
Arsenal’s win at Tottenham on Sunday was doubly sweet for fans of the Gunners, who kept their title hopes alive while bringing up ‘St Totteringham’s Day’.
Gunners supporters have coined the term ‘St Totteringham’s Day’ for the point at which their neighbours can mathematically no longer catch them in the league. The milestone wasn’t reached in the 2021-22 season, when Spurs pipped Arsenal to fourth place, but Mikel Arteta’s side have finished well clear of their rivals for the last two seasons.
Arsenal raced into a 3-0 lead at the break at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz adding to a Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg own goal. Cristian Romero and Son Heung-min narrowed the deficit after half-time, but the visitors clung on for the win.
It leaves Arteta’s team 20 points clear of Ange Postecoglou’s men, who have five games left to play. More importantly, it kept Arsenal top despite Manchester City winning later in the afternoon, though their supporters were able to enjoy two successes at once.
Few moments will be as sweet for an Arsenal supporter as securing St Totteringham’s Day via a North London derby victory. It will be an added delight for what was once a regular occurrence.
Arsenal finished above their north London rivals for 21 successive seasons before a six-season stretch of not being able to match their rivals from 2016/17. With a second convincing advantage in a row things appear to have turned a corner once again.
Even in denying Spurs a comeback on Sunday, it is possible that Arsenal have improved again. Arteta believes that Arsenal have shown progress from where they faltered in the title race 12 months ago.
“I think so. When you win it’s always the case,” he said. “Last season we didn’t, because we went to West Ham and we missed a penalty, and against Liverpool, we conceded in the 91st minute and then you’re not capable.
“At the end, the judgement is going to be based on that outcome. If they got the goal in the last minute to make it 3-3 then we wouldn’t have been ready. The margins are so small.
“Don’t get carried away with yourself. We want to be better. There are margins for improvement. Go again against Bournemouth because it’s going to be really tough.”
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