Arsenal put Tottenham Hotspur back in their place with a 4-2 win on Sunday afternoon, coming from behind in the second half to secure the victory.
After a good performance against Liverpool last month, Unai Emery’s side really needed to take it one step further by beating big six opposition. There was no better time to do it than in the North London derby, and thankfully, the players were up to the task.
Arsenal had to battle back after a couple of very controversial goals gave Tottenham a first-half lead, but there was nothing controversial about the way they turned their local rivals over after the break.
Let’s have a look at our individual player ratings for the match:
4Substitutes
Aaron Ramsey 9
The introduction of Ramsey and Lacazette at half-time changed the game for Arsenal, and it was the Welshman who set up both the equalising goal and Lacazette’s finish to give the team the lead. Neither assist was particularly impressive, but they were still crucial moments in the match.
Ramsey also threw himself into a couple of important tackles, and he rubbished any talk that he might not give his all in his contract situation.
Alexandre Lacazette 8.5
Lacazette provided the extra goalscoring threat that Arsenal needed to turn the game back in their favour, and he ended up scoring the winning goal for the Gunners. The actual finish was a little fortunate, deflecting in off Eric Dier, but the Frenchman has certainly earned his luck recently.
Matteo Guendouzi 8
There’s no doubting that Guendouzi understood the importance of this match. He was getting involved in the action before he even came onto the pitch, running over to confront the Spurs players during the fight following their rather premature celebrations.
When he did come on, he did a solid job breaking up play and finding his teammates, without doing anything particularly spectacular.