Improving Arsenal aiming to repeat finest hour of Unai Emery’s reign against stuttering Tottenham
This was more like it. After a sticky opening double header, Unai Emery had crowned a 19-game unbeaten run with a watershed 4-2 triumph over Tottenham that suggested not only a challenge to Spurs’ new-found superiority in north London but also a successful transition to the post-Wenger era at Arsenal.
It wasn’t just the result, either. In that derby on 2 December, Emery’s embryonic side showed qualities they had too often been accused of lacking under his long-serving predecessor. If it wasn’t always clear from the Spaniard’s public utterances what his plan for Arsenal was then this performance seemed to encapsulate Emery’s vision better than he could articulate.
There was urgency: Arsenal pressed the visitors high up the pitch from the kick-off, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s harrying of Serge Aurier generating a free-kick that led to a penalty and the Gunners’ early lead.
There was fight: substitutes including Stephan Lichtsteiner and Aaron Ramsey took exception to Eric Dier shushing the home crowd after he had headed Tottenham level, resulting in a shoving match. And there was resilience: the combative spirit spilling out on the touchline found its footballing expression in Arsenal’s three-goal comeback in the second half, which lifted them ahead of their rivals and into the Premier League’s top four.
What Emery and Arsenal could not know, however, is that the day would represent their season’s high-water mark. While defeat was a blip for Spurs, who would recover their footing by winning 10 of their next 13 matches in all competitions, the Gunners soon lost momentum. Three days later they travelled to Old Trafford and twice went ahead only to let Manchester United equalise almost instantly, drawing 2-2. Narrow wins over Huddersfield and Qarabag followed, but thereafter the consistency of autumn gave way to an erratic winter, with seven defeats outweighing six wins in the following 14 games. In that spell Arsenal’s domestic cup ambitions died and they slipped to sixth in the table.
The honeymoon was over for Emery. A 5-1 thrashing at rampant leaders Liverpool harked back to the darkest days of Wenger’s tenure; Manchester City and United outclassed Arsenal in 3-1 wins; and impotent displays in 1-0 losses to West Ham and, later, BATE Borisov raised uncomfortable questions for the former Sevilla and Paris Saint-Germain coach. What was he trying to do with this group of players? Why did he continue to exclude Mesut Ozil, their most gifted and highest-earning star, when the team so clearly lacked attacking inspiration? Was Emery actually a good appointment after all?
As he prepares to face another north London derby at Wembley on Saturday lunchtime, the manager is still trying to revisit the heights of his first, three months ago. There have been encouraging signs of late. Influential players have recovered from injury: Laurent Koscielny has brought a measure of composure to a jittery defence, while Henrikh Mkhitaryan has returned a more influential player and lent balance to the attack. Results have also improved: victory in the return leg against BATE proved the start of a winning run that currently stands at three games, the latest being Wednesday’s 5-1 rout of Bournemouth. Ozil has even been reintegrated, albeit for the less challenging fixtures.
Superstitious fans of either side might also have noticed interesting parallels between the December meeting and this weekend’s rematch. Back then, Arsenal were eyeing a third consecutive win, having seen off Bournemouth in their previous league fixture. Spurs, meanwhile, appeared fatigued from a draining midweek game against Inter Milan when they were swept aside at Emirates Stadium. Days earlier they had also faced Chelsea in a high-tempo London derby. This time, Tottenham go into the Arsenal match reeling from another demanding outing on Wednesday – a 2-0 reverse at Chelsea that manager Mauricio Pochettino said had killed off any lingering hope of pipping Liverpool and City to the title.
While Arsenal – back in the top four again and facing a winnable last-16 tie with Rennes in the Europa League next week – have reason to feel positive, a familiar pessimism has descended on Spurs. No sooner had talk resurfaced of a charge for the Premier League summit than it had been snuffed out in a damaging week which included a 2-1 defeat at Burnley as well as that lacklustre surrender at Stamford Bridge, in which they failed to register an attempt on target – unless you count Kieran Trippier’s own goal. Pochettino, meanwhile, betrayed his disappointment at the top prize slipping out of reach again with a very public excoriation of referee Mike Dean after the final whistle at Turf Moor, for which he has since apologised.
It all makes for an intriguing clash this weekend. Tottenham’s slumps have not tended to last under Pochettino – they have only lost three games in a row once before in the Argentinian’s four years in charge – and, sitting in third place, they remain on course to make it a hat-trick of finishes above their neighbours. Arsenal could, however, close the gap to one point with victory at the national stadium – although they will have to improve on wretched away form which has seen them lose five of their last eight fixtures on the road. Now finding himself having to win over the more restless sections of a fanbase all over again, what Emery would give for that, and a reminder of the heights that he was able to coax from his team not so long ago.