Gabriel header settles latest derby

There was derby disappointment on Sunday afternoon as Arsenal took the spoils thanks to a second-half goal from Gabriel.

Despite dominating pretty much every metric in the game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, we couldn’t find a way through the visitors’ resolute defence and suffered a second Premier League defeat of the season after Gabriel headed home from a corner in the 64th minute.

This was an unusually early date in the calendar for a home north London derby and the stadium crackled with excitement and passion as the game kicked off. It was us on the front foot first, Dominic Solanke and Heung-Min Son combining on five minutes to fashion a chance for Dejan Kulusevski at the near post, David Raya pushing it away for a corner, before the Arsenal goalkeeper had to do the same to the Sweden international’s teasing cross into the box which eluded everyone and was creeping in moments later.

A glorious chance presented itself to us 10 minutes later when the Gunners tried to play out from the back, Son got a toe on a pass which sent the ball straight to Solanke on the edge of the area but he couldn’t get the ball out from his feet and his effort was blocked.

The hosts forged their first chance in the 18th minute when Gabriel Martinelli clipped over a cross which Kai Havertz met with a good header, Guglielmo Vicario dived to his right to save and gathered the rebound before making another smart stop to deny Martinelli just a minute later following an Arsenal counter.

It was blood and thunder stuff at times, just what you’d expect from this fixture and a swift attack from us almost yielded the opener, James Maddison delivering a ball to the back post for Solanke and his looping header had Raya scrambling across goal but bounced a yard wide Brennan Johnson then found a yard of space down the inside right channel after a scramble for the ball on the edge of the area but fizzed his shot over the bar in stoppage time at the end of a first half which saw referee Jarred Gillett issue seven yellow cards, five brandished to our players.

We were quickly into our stride after the break, Micky van de Ven bringing a save out of Raya with a glancing header from Maddison’s fine cross and for the first 20 minutes of the second period, the game was played in the Arsenal half. We forced a string of corners but couldn’t make any count and instead, the visitors went up the other end and won a corner themselves, Bukayo Saka sending in a cross which Gabriel headed past Vicario from six yards out.

It was a crushing blow but we stuck to the task and kept playing our football, trying to breach Arsenal’s determined defence. There were plenty of opportunities with the ball being worked down either flank, but final passes were lacking or the visitors had a defender in the right place to clear the danger. Two minutes from time, Cristian Romero met Pedro Porro’s cross but sent his header straight at Raya while Kulusevski found himself in space in stoppage time but his fierce left-foot drive fizzed a yard over the bar and with it went any chance of salvaging something from the contest.

Ange Postecoglou made four changes to the team from Newcastle last time out as we welcomed back Solanke, who made his home debut after shaking off an injury problem, while van de Ven was also fit again. It was van de Ven, Rodrigo Bentancur, Johnson and Solanke in for Radu Dragusin, Pape Matar Sarr, Yves Bissouma and Wilson Odobert.

Match data

Goal: Arsenal – Gabriel 64.

Yellow cards: Spurs – Udogie, Bentancur, Vicario, Kulusevski, van de Van; Arsenal – Saliba, Timber, Jorginho.

Referee: Jarred Gillett.

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Weather: Sunny intervals, gentle breeze, 20 degrees.

Attendance: 61,645.