The Guardian

Guardian writers’ predicted position: 6th (NB: this is not necessarily Suzanne Wrack’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position: 6th

The plan

After narrowly avoiding relegation in 2022-23, the sixth-placed finish and FA Cup final in Robert Vilahamn’s first season will be hard to be top. Is there pressure to do better? No one would turn it down, but more importantly than the outcome last season was the team playing with coherence and an identity. If they can continue to develop their style of play and progress as a group, fans will likely be happy even if the team fall a little short of last season’s highs.

The number of additions has been carefully managed and the squad go into the new season with a degree of consistency. Spurs are playing the long game, hoping to avoid the fate of teams that finished high up, spent big to try to crack into the top three and ruptured the dynamic of their squads in the process.

“I know we can compete against all the teams this year,” said Vilahamn. “I know we can become better this year, if everything works well. But, to beat the top three teams, I cannot tell [the players] this is the year it’s going to happen because they have been in the women’s game for a long time.

“On the other hand, there’s a lot of stuff going on in those clubs as well, with new recruitments and new coaches. So it’s going to be an interesting year, especially when the other teams around us are doing the investment. It is going to be more competitive.”

The manager may be cautious regarding ambitions but that does not mean they are not dreaming of big things. “If we are in the Champions League for the next season, that would be amazing,” he said. “But as long as we develop and take steps, that’s what the club want to do.

“Organically, we want to be better and better and better. We don’t force us, we don’t risk anything. We are in a good spot, but I cannot really say that if we are ready for the top three or not. We need to wait and see.”

The manager

Vilahamn is fast building an impressive reputation. Before his arrival, the team looked lost. Vilahamn is not a loud manager but focuses on the individual. “I’m very individual-based there, so if you need love, I’m going to give you love; if you need other stuff, I’m going to give you that as well.

“I was a teacher. I use that quite a lot in my journey as a coach. I never ever treat them the same. I’m trying to treat them as individuals.”

Off-field picture

In their latest accounts, Tottenham’s revenue stood at £2.26m for the year ending June 2023, an increase on the preceding year’s £1.9m. They had an operating loss of £3.1m, up from £1.6m. The investment is increasing and accounts for last season will probably show further growth in both figures, but they are still far below the level of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City. High-quality training facilities and an increased number of games played at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will boost revenue further but greater investment from the parent club will be needed if they are to challenge for the top four.

Breakout star

Is this Jessica Naz’s year? The 23-year-old has shown huge promise and won her first senior England call-up in May, after Lauren James withdrew, having been placed on the standby list for England’s Euro 2025 qualifying matches. Naz signed a new three-year contract in May, having scored three goals and provided four assists in 10 starts under Vilahamn. “I like quick players, I like players that can be brave one-v-one and beat them,” said Vilahamn of Naz before the Cup final. “I saw last year that she could have done that, but she didn’t do it too much. She was one of the players I really liked when I watched the games last year and when I signed for the club.”

A-lister

Hayley Raso comes with a high profile similar to that of Beth England, who was a huge and influential addition in January 2023, fast becoming Tottenham’s top scorer. Raso, an Australia forward, joins after a year with Real Madrid, where she scored four times and competed in the Champions League. Having played at Everton and Manchester City, she comes with strong WSL experience. “Can she be a really dominant player in this league with an upcoming team?” Vilahamn said. “I feel like she’s a good match. We talked about where she is and she’s fitting into the way we play in a very good way.”

This summer’s business

Recruiting experienced players and young talent was made all the easier by Spurs’ achievements last season. Last summer, players were joining a side fresh from a relegation battle; now they are joining a team going places. Tottenham changed tack in this window, focusing on key areas rather than an overhaul. “We signed many players last season,” said Vilahamn. “When I look at the squad, I think we have 12 or 13 new players from when I came in, which is many players. The main thing was to find the key targets. So [the centre-back] Claire Hunt was a key target. We looked into what we need to develop in that position and competition in that position. Then you have Ella Morris [another defender], who is a typical Tottenham signing perhaps she’s not ready to play 90 minutes the first game, but she’s definitely a future Lioness. It’s just a question of time before she can do it at Tottenham as well.”

Where do they play?

Tottenham primarily play their home games at Leyton Orient’s Brisbane Road. Close to Leyton station and on several bus routes the ground is fairly accessible. The club have put in a lot of effort into building an atmosphere and making a red ground feel more like home. The pre-match beatboxers and street dancers have developed a small cult following. Last season, the club hosted the women’s team three times at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and there are three more WSL fixtures scheduled – against Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea. “We have a clear strategy, how we’re going to keep growing the fanbase and the games at the stadium,” said Vilahamn. “Last year, we had three games there and all of them we won, and all of them had a really good atmosphere … We’re looking into how we can grow that.”

Ange Postecoglou lauded the “real spirit and character” that he admits has been missing from the first four games of Tottenham’s season after late goals from substitutes Brennan Johnson and Djed Spence prevented Coventry City recording another remarkable underdog yarn.

The Championship side deservedly took a lead through Brandon Thomas-Asante midway through the second half that Ellis Simms twice came close to doubling before Spurs recovered to sneak through to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup. At least that is one route to a trophy still in Postecoglou’s sights.

Penalties did for Mark Robins’s team when they lost the Championship playoff final to Luton Town 16 months ago and the FA Cup semi-final to Manchester United last season and they looked set for another trial from 12 yards after Spence, sent in by Dejan Kulusevski, stabbed home from close range in the 88th minute.

Yet until the introduction of James Maddison, Son Heung-Min and Kulusevski, Spurs had at times been outplayed – and certainly out-fought – by the spirited second-tier side. Then, in stoppage time, Rodrigo Bentancur played Johnson in on goal and the Wales winger, abused online so badly after his efforts in the north London derby defeat on Sunday that he deleted his Instagram account, slipped in the winning goal.

Both teams may have made middling starts to their respective league campaigns, but the pressure was clearly more on Spurs. Neutrals love a manager who shows ambition and shoots from the hip, after Postecoglou’s conviction that he “always wins things in my second year”.

This he may have done in Australia, Japan and Scotland, where he won the title in his second seasons in charge, but the Premier League is a completely different beast. All of which suggests he will need to win a cup, a feat Spurs haven’t managed since 2008, to maintain his successful second-season streak, and this competition offers an easier target than the FA Cup or Europa League.

Still, he gambled by making eight changes from the side that lost 1-0 to Arsenal, and while he argued that the likes of summer signings Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall, making their first starts for the club, will benefit from the extended minutes they played here, they could not match Coventry’s tempo in the middle hour of this game.

“It was a typical cup game,” Postecoglou conceded. “Coventry had a real energy to their game. We had to hang in there and it was really hard just to stay in the game. But we [did] and showed some real spirit and character, which has probably been missing in the first four games of the season. But the last 10 minutes we got some really good belief going.”

An audible minority of Spurs fans booed their team off at half-time, and there were indignant cries when Bergvall, the Swedish teenager signed for £8.5million from Djurgardens, was replaced by Son just after the hour, when Maddison came on for Dominic Solanke, who showed moments of quality but is still seeking his first goal since joining from Bournemouth for £55m. “I don’t think there are any quick fixes,” Postecoglou said, pointing out that with Qarabag visiting when the Europa League campaign starts next week, Spurs will need to rotate.

Robins rightly identified Maddison as the difference-maker, as he started dictating possession and taking the sting out of Coventry’s high-tempo approach.

The excellent Jack Rudoni had almost scored after 45 seconds, Fraser Forster saving his shot after playing Bergvall a difficult first touch on the edge of his own area. With Spurs vulnerable down their defensive right, Norman Bassette, a Belgian teenager signed from Caen in the summer, was also outstanding and it was from his low cross that Thomas-Asante, a £2.25million capture from West Brom, adjusted his feet nimbly to sidefoot Coventry into the lead.

Ephron Mason-Clark almost slid home at the near post after Simms’ header from Jake Bidwell’s long cross but Coventry paid for not getting that crucial second goal. “We have to be more ruthless,” Robins said. “Life presents you with chances and we seem to not take those chances.

Preamble

If you want glamour ties, you’ve come to the wrong place. By all means, head over to our Manchester City v Internazionale liveblog, if that’s your sort of thing.

This clockwatch – bridging three different competitions and multiple different kick-off times – will instead bring the latest from a series of genuinely enthralling ties, each more obscure, intriguing and hipster than the last.

Women’s Champions League qualifying

Anderlecht v Vålerenga (6.30pm kick-off, all times BST)

Fiorentina v Wolfsburg (7pm)

Carabao Cup

Brighton v Wolves (7.45pm)

Coventry v Spurs (8pm)

Champions League (all 8pm)

Celtic v Slovan Bratislava

Club Brugge v Borussia Dortmund

PSG v Girona

We will also have the latest from the early kick-offs: Bologna v Shakhtar, Sparta Prague v RB Salzburg.

In the Women’s Champions League qualifying, Anderlecht host Norwegian champions Vålerenga. Wolfsburg – Champions League royalty who reached the final in 2016, 2018 and 2023 and won both the thing in both 2013 and 2014 – travel to Fiorentina, who came through qualifying after finishing third in Serie A last season.

The two Carabao Cup ties throw up an all Premier League clash and a classic banana skin of a tie for Tottenham at last season’s FA Cup semi-finalists Coventry City. Woof.

Some seriously interesting subplots in the men’s Champions League on just the second night of its new incarnation/league phase. There are five tournament debutants in this year’s competition, and two of them feature here (with Bologna having also kicked off against Shakhtar at 5.45pm BST).

Slovan Bratislava have made it through to the group stage at the 12th time of asking, having made it through four qualifying stages. Managed by Vladimir Weiss, his son of the same name also features in the squad. You may remember Weiss Jr from spells at Manchester City, Bolton and … um … Glasgow Rangers. Under the lights at Parkhead, rarely have Celtic had a better opportunity to get off to a winning start.

Borussia Dortmund, last year’s unlucky finalists, start this season’s campaign against Club Brugge. Dortmund added Maximilian Beier, Waldemar Anton, Serhou Guirassy, Pascal Gross, Yan Couto among others, and shipped out a whopping 18 players (including Marco Reus, Youssoufa Moukoko, Sebastién Haller, Mats Hummels and Niclas Füllkrug) and it will be interesting to see how Nuri Sahin moulds his new-look side this year.

Kylian Mbappé-less PSG seem revitalised, perhaps even stronger since the departure of their talisman to Real Madrid. So far this season the French side have played four, won four. Goals scored: 16. Goals against: three. They host Girona, another debutant, and remain a fascinating prospect despite the departures of Artem Dovbyk, Aleix García and Savinho. The Spanish club’s manager, Michel, promised earlier this week that 37-year-old striker Cristhian Stuani that he would give him the captain’s armband against PSG. “Stuani deserves to be in the starting XI. He has been wearing this shirt for many years. He deserves it more than anyone,” Michel told reporters.

That’ll do you, for now. We’ll have some team news shortly!

Ange Postecoglou has urged Tottenham to embrace the challenge of trying to end their long trophy drought and said he is happy to be regarded as a failure if he does not win anything this season.

The Australian was in a defiant mood before visiting Coventry in the third round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night and is determined to maintain his record of lifting silverware in his second year in a job.

Spurs’ most recent trophy was the League Cup in 2008 and Postecoglou, who has faced criticism since losing to Arsenal last Sunday, wants the club to adopt a fearless mindset in pursuit of glory.

“It’s why I came here,” the former Celtic manager said. “I came here to try to win things. I think that should be our measure and if we fall short of that then we’ve fallen short and we need to be better. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with embracing that.

“It’s just the way I’m wired, I think it’s the way forward and you need to embrace that if you want to become a successful club and not shy away from it. If I said: ‘This is going to take three or four years,’ then yeah it would relieve pressure. But I don’t want to wait three or four years. This year’s an opportunity.”

Postecoglou, who has made an inconsistent start to his second season, insisted he had no problem with being judged a failure if Spurs end up empty-handed again.

“I failed last year in my head because that’s how I’m geared,” he said. “I think I’ve made it pretty clear what my expectations are. But that doesn’t mean that I stop. That just fuels the fire of ‘why didn’t I do it?’ That gets me going for this year and this year it’s about progress. That’s been my whole career.

“Have I ever downplayed anything since I’ve been here? So I’m willing to be measured against that – that means that I’m fair game. I’m happy to be judged against that standard because that’s my standard, that’s what I’ve done in the past and I don’t want to dilute that. I have no problems with people using that as a yardstick.”

A potential issue for Spurs, whose heavily rotated side lost in the Carabao Cup second round to Fulham last season, is that it is 11 years since anyone other than Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City or Manchester United won the competition. But Postecoglou remains undaunted.

“I don’t think there’s anything limiting this club having success,” he said. “I really don’t believe that. That’s why I’m here. But that doesn’t mean we’re ready for it now. It just means it’s what we should be striving for.”

Spurs have lacked a clinical touch this season but Postecoglou defended Brennan Johnson after the winger deleted his Instagram after receiving abusive messages on the back of his performance against Arsenal.

“I hate how we’ve just normalised all that stuff,” Postecoglou said. “You’re talking about a young guy who is probably lacking a bit of confidence at the moment. Things haven’t gone his way.

“But he comes here every day, he’s working his backside off, he’s doing everything right, he’s trying so hard to become the player he wants to be. It’s hurting him a lot. It’s not like he’s out on the town and he doesn’t care and he rolls up late. So what’s his crime? His crime is he isn’t performing at the level that people expect of him.

“As a professional footballer you’ve got to expect that you’re going to get criticism. He’s still a young player and I think there is so much more of Brennan that we’re going to bring out in him.”

It was, as everybody pointed out, inevitable that the north London derby would be decided by a set-play, Gabriel heading the only goal in the second half as Tottenham in general, and Cristian Romero in particular, switched off. It was a win that kept Arsenal within touching distance of Manchester City – and that it’s not absurd to think in such terms even at this early stage of the season suggests just how City’s relentless excellence has affected the perspective – but it also raised further doubts about Ange Postecoglou.

The heady start to last season, in which Spurs took 26 points from their first 10 games under the Australian, feels a long time ago. It was inevitable there would be some sort of regression to the mean but 44 points from their subsequent 32 games is a poor enough record to raise concerns. Extrapolate that over a season and you get 52, which is what West Ham got last season in finishing ninth. For Tottenham, with their expenditure and their stadium, that would be far from acceptable. Cherrypicking isolated parts of a season is never entirely fair, but 32 games is a hefty sample size.

“For some reason people think I don’t care about set pieces and it’s a narrative that you can keep going on for ages and ages,” Postecoglou said on Sunday. “I understand that. We work on them all the time like we do for every other team. You know that they’re a threat, as I said, for the most part, we handled them really well today, but we switched off for one and we paid a price and you learn from that and you move on.”

There was an obvious grumpiness there, which is perhaps only to be expected, but the “for some reason” seemed needlessly passive aggressive. The reason is that Postecoglou dug himself a hole last season, saying of working specifically on set-pieces, “I’m just not interested in it. I never have been.” He did clarify that to explain that, on a philosophical level, he prefers to see the game holistically rather than hiving off one aspect to a specialist set-piece coach, as Arsenal have done with Nicolas Jover.

“It’s something that we work on along with everything in our game,” he said in May. “There are far more important things that we need to concentrate on at the moment in terms of the team we’re building.” Assistant coach Nick Montgomery was brought in during the summer and while he is not a specific set-piece coach, he does appear to have responsibility for them. But then if Tottenham let teams crowd Guglielmo Vicario as Arsenal did, and if Romero is so easily brushed aside by opponents, the problem soon becomes less abut structures than about individuals.

Which may be true, but as a proportion of total goals conceded only Nottingham Forest let in more from set-pieces than Tottenham last season – and the Premier League is ruthless; no weakness goes unexploited. Gabriel’s goal was the first that Spurs have conceded from a set-play so far this campaign, but another pattern, just as damaging, is emerging. In all four games so far this season, they have had at least 60% possession, yet they have won only one of them. In all four they have been ostensibly the better team – although Newcastle did ultimately register the better xG – but they have not created the chances they probably should have, have not, other than against Everton, taken their chances, and then have had their soft underbelly exposed.

Postecoglou sides tend to be at their best in his second season in charge: he himself made reference to that on Sunday, correcting a journalist who had said Postecoglou “normally” wins a trophy in his second season to insist he “always” does – and it did happen with South Melbourne, Brisbane Roar, Yokohama F Marinos and Celtic; at the last three of those that trophy was the league. Even if City are handed an enormous points deduction, it seems hard to imagine that happening this season.

Yet what must be frustrating for Postecoglou is that his side don’t seem that far off. It sounds vaguely ludicrous to say of a team on four points but it really wouldn’t have taken too much to go differently for them to have won four out of four at the start of this season. In the expected points world, Tottenham are just one point behind Arsenal. But back in the real, actual world they’re already six points behind their rivals and four points off the Champions League spots. The basic processes seem there: they just need a little more ruthlessness, a little less carelessness, a little more confidence and decisiveness. The problem is that Tottenham, of all clubs, have heard this before: that is the very essence of Spursiness.

At the beginning of last season, it seemed as though Postecoglou’s uncomplicated gruffness might be just the thing to cut through the years of underachievement. The problem now is that, as manifested in the problem of set-piece defending, it may have become a contributory factor.

Mikel Arteta paid tribute to ­Arsenal’s set-piece coach, Nicolas Jover, for injecting his players with belief after their narrow win in the north London derby kept up the pressure on the Premier League leaders Manchester City.

Gabriel Magalhães’s second-half header from a Bukayo Saka corner was enough to give Arsenal a third successive ­victory at their arch-rivals for the first time since the 1980s as Arteta’s side overcame the absences of the suspended Declan Rice and injured captain Martin Ødegaard in midfield. It was the 17th goal they have scored from a corner since the start of last season and 42nd from a set piece since Jover was recruited from City in 2021.

The Frenchman led the wild cele­brations with Arteta in the dugout, and asked whether he is the best in his field, the Arsenal manager said: “In his field, in other fields and as a person. And the relationship that we have – that’s why I made the decision to bring him to City when I was there and then to Arsenal.

“Him and the rest of the staff have injected the belief to the players that there are many ways to win football matches. This is a really powerful one and he has given us a lot. So a big ­compliment to all of them.”

Tottenham found themselves 3-0 down at half‑time in the corre­sponding ­fixture in April after conceding two goals from set pieces. Ange ­Postecoglou insisted last season that “there are far more important things that we need to concentrate on” but he has since recruited the former Hibernian mana­ger Nick Montgomery to take charge of that area of the team.

Asked if they had spent more time working on set pieces during the week to counter Arsenal’s threat, Postecoglou said: “For some reason people think I don’t care about set pieces. It’s a narrative that you can keep going for ages and ages. I understand that. We work on them all the time but we paid the price today. It’s my burden to carry and I’m happy to do that. For us the way forward is to try and turn the football we are ­playing into something meaningful.”

The victory means that Arsenal head into the showdown at the Etihad Stadium next weekend trailing the champions by two points. They must first travel to Italy to begin their Champions League campaign against Atalanta on Thursday. Arteta revealed he is waiting for news on Ødegaard’s ankle injury and on Saka, who was replaced late on here after sustaining an injury.

“We have won three years in a row here. That’s a big thing,” the Spaniard said. “We have a big week coming up and that is going to give us a lot of motivation, energy and belief.”

Arsenal beat Tottenham 1-0 in the north London derby after a tight and heated game that saw seven yellow cards awarded in the first half. Arsenal's Gabriel Magalhães scored the winner with a header in the 64th minute to grab the Gunners their third win in a row at their arch-rivals' stadium. Arsenal had a number of players missing and their manager, Mikel Arteta, said: 'We had to adapt the plan a little bit because of the players that we had available. And I love it because since the day that we have started to get bad news, the team got hungrier and hungrier to play the game. And that's a big compliment to everybody at the club.' Tottenham's manager, Ange Postecoglou, lamented his side's loss, saying they 'wasted some of our good play … we just haven't really had that sort of conviction in the front third to take advantage.'

Gabriel’s towering header secures derby win for depleted Arsenal at Tottenham

Set-piece goal part of mania for detail that separates Arsenal from Spurs

‘Best in his field’: Arteta lauds Arsenal’s Nicolas Jover for set-piece dominance

Yes, well, of course that was going to happen. Ange Postecoglou has a particular manner on the touchline, a way of standing in the same spot for long periods of time, fists bunched in his pockets, a little hangdog and sad, like a long‑suffering dad at sports day.

As this slow-burn north London derby ticked down towards its inevitable endgame, as the sight of Arsenal’s set-piece coach leaping up at the edge of Postecoglou’s eyeline became ever more potent and ominous, there was a sense also of a man being chased down by the fates, like the doomed priest in The Omen, fate foretold by the shadow of the church spire sticking out of his back.

Let’s face it, this is how these things work. If you say you’re not interested in set pieces after losing one north London derby on set‑piece goals, and not interested because you just want to play a more expansive holistic game, football logic states very clearly that you will definitely lose the next one that way, too. And that you will do so after playing really quite well, with some nice holistic‑process stuff chucked in.

And so it came to pass here. In part because it was always going to, but mainly because Arsenal made it happen. It is a good cinematic detail that Mikel Arteta’s team won this game thanks to a single clean header from a corner. But zoom out a little and set-piece clarity is just part of the package, a symptom of this Arsenal era’s mania for detail.

This is a minutely planned sporting entity from pressing to passing combinations. So, yes, of course that includes corners, headers and getting in the way artfully. You don’t challenge for a league this way. But it certainly helps.

The decisive moment arrived on 64 minutes. It was a classic one‑two. As Bukayo Saka took a right-wing corner there was a distracting surge past the front post. The ball went to the back, where Gabriel Magalhães produced a wonderful wrench of the neck to thump his header into the back of the net.

It is an interesting part of the dynamic that for an hour it had been tempting to wonder if this was the kind of afternoon where Arsenal would miss having a sniper, a finisher, a one-shot killer. It was a scruffy game, not so much a boxing match as the football equivalent of the kind of brawl inside a Wetherspoons that ends on YouTube, all haymakers by the pool table and wild flying air-kicks.

Have there ever been so many bookings for pulling your man back in the centre circle? This was a free for all of pulling-back, no quarter asked, none given in the pulling‑back-in-the-centre-circle stakes.

It always seemed to be narrowing towards a moment. And as the goal went in the realisation arrived with it that Arsenal do have a killer in their ranks.

His name is Nicolas Jover, the set-piece specialist, who was immediately engulfed by a group coach hug, and who was still up on his feet looking a bit wild and emotional as the game restarted. You can add Gabriel to that too, whose goal here was the fifth time he has scored the winner for Arsenal.

It should be said that Postecoglou isn’t some kind of luddite anti-set piece fanatic. Spurs do have a new coach who takes care of this side of things. But Arsenal are just better at it. There were four Spurs set-piece deliveries into the box in the opening 10 minutes here, all of them won by Arsenal players quite comfortably.

Jover has been called a revolutionary, a game‑changer, a visionary. He certainly must have incredible thighs. His entire afternoon is basically a series of squats and leaps and sprints, as set pieces come and go. It is a slightly weird new dynamic all round. Will the set-piece coaches ever stop leaping up? Why don’t goalkeeping coaches leap up whenever there’s a shot or a penalty kick? Why don’t the analytic guys leap and stare intently from the touchline during each period of slow possession?

But then the current focus is also a fad to some degree, the Premier League and its broadcasters mining fresh meat, fresh content. Perhaps before long we can look forward to a set‑piece coach golden age, from the great Scottish mining stock set-piece coaches, a set-piece Clough a set-piece Ferguson, our first set-piece coach Mourinho, the smouldering bad boy?

The reality, of course, is that Arsenal won this game in many other ways, all of them connected to the same mania for detail and planning. The midfield was missing not just Declan Rice but Martin Ødegaard, but made up for it in energy and scuffle.

Jurriën Timber and Gabriel Martinelli looked like a classy little two-hander on the left at times. Leandro Trossard worked really hard in the centre, even managing to tear his shirt theatrically, opening up a door in his chest, C-3PO-style. Even the 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri came on and battled impressively. By the end the details were enough. Including, of course the obvious one.

Injustice. A costly suspension. Injuries. Erling Haaland. The schedule. Arsenal had watched the obstacles line up in front of them and they knew what everybody was ­thinking: champion teams-in-the-making find a way to cope. To Mikel Arteta’s delight, Arsenal coped.

After the dropped points against Brighton, the draw shaped and scarred by Declan Rice’s contro­versial red card and the loss of ­Martin ­Ødegaard to injury on ­Norway duty, it was a day for a makeshift lineup to dig deep, for the collective resolve to shine through.

It was epitomised by the toughness of the centre-halves, Gabriel ­Magalhães and William Saliba; they led an intimidating last line, which featured a standout performance from Jurrien Timber at left‑back. Arsenal routinely got men around the ball, suffocating a Tottenham team that began brightly but ran into walls.

Manchester City had won again on Saturday, Haaland scoring the goals against Brentford, but how Arsenal found a response, the celebrations long and loud at full-time after a third succes­sive win in the backyard of their ­fiercest rivals.

The decisive moment had ­familiar trimmings. Two of ­Arsenal’s goals in the 3-2 win here last season came from corners; part of a Premier League‑high 22 from setpieces. So when Bukayo Saka sent over a second-half corner, there was a sickening sense of deja vu for Tottenham.

Guglielmo Vicario was boxed in, ­Arsenal’s physicality pronounced yet again and there was Gabriel to power home the header. The victory was the perfect start to a difficult week for Arsenal. After a Champions League trip to Atalanta on Thursday, they travel to City on Sunday.

For Spurs, there was only frustra­tion. Ange Postecoglou is not a man for compromise. Everybody knew how the manager would try to play and his starting XI reinforced the message, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski in attacking midfield roles, looking to push behind the front three.

His team simply could not make it happen; they grew increasingly perplexed at how to outmanoeuvre Arsenal’s defensive titans. If there was a sere­nade for Postecoglou from the Spurs ­support in the early running, there were some boos for him and the team upon the final whistle. Then again, there always are after a bad result. The Carabao Cup trip to Coventry on Wednesday has assumed greater significance.

With no Rice and no Ødegaard, Arteta paired Jorginho with Thomas Partey in midfield and asked Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard to work as the central forwards in front of them. It was Jorginho’s first action of the season and only the second time he had started a game with Partey. On both of the previous occasions, Partey had played at right-back.

Arsenal had to learn on the hoof and Spurs were in the mood to ask questions of them at the outset. The first half flew by, the tempo high, some of the transitions dizzying. The aggro was a big part of it, too. Naturally.

Spurs raged when Timber clattered into Pedro Porro; he looked to have got his boot to the top of the ball before rolling into the Spurs full‑back and there was a confrontation between Timber and a raging Vicario, which led to a melee. Timber was booked for the tackle, which was about right. There was not enough in it for a red card.

Vicario was booked for his reaction; one of five Spurs cautions in the first-half. Choice cuts included Destiny Udogie on Saka and Micky van de Ven on Trossard.

Spurs almost contrived the early breakthrough. Kulusevski shot at David Raya while he almost profited after whipping in an inswinging cross from the right, which went through a crowd. Raya had to have seen it late, which made the tip away at full stretch more impressive. There was irritation for Spurs when they forced Ben White into a loose pass and Dominic Solanke had a clear shooting chance. He did not unload quickly enough and Saliba was able to block.

Back came Arsenal. Arteta was unhappy when Gabriel Martinelli curled weakly at Vicario after being sent clear up the inside left by ­Trossard while moments earlier, the Spurs goalkeeper had saved smartly from a towering Havertz header.

Amid all of the physical stuff ­leading up half-time, there were further flickers of actual football. Maddison crossed deep for Solanke, who looped a header just past the far post. Kulusevski won the ball in a crowd and fed Brennan Johnson, who lashed high.

Could we have a moment of ­quality amid the maelstrom? Solanke was crowded out at the start of the ­second half as he attacked a header; Van de Ven flashed another at Raya from the ensuing corner. It was from one at the other end that Arsenal edged ahead. Of course it was.

Arsenal won it after a slick counter, ignited by Trossard’s volley and featuring good holdup play by Havertz and a Saka shot that was blocked. When Saka bent in the kick, it was impossible to ignore the mass of ­bodies that engulfed Vicario. He could not get out to the ball, which Saka had dropped into the ideal area. Gabriel applied a bit of pressure into Cristian Romero’s back and, when he rose, the conversion was straightforward.

What did Spurs have left? Very little. Maddison drew howls when he tried to usher in Solanke rather than shoot and he was replaced by Timo Werner shortly afterwards, ­Postecoglou moving Son into a more central role. The die had been cast. Arsenal would not be breached.

This is an excellent point from David Howell

“The other thing, with this being only September, is that we don’t know yet whether this title race is a normal one, or one where lawyers and assorted other professional interpreters of accountancy Numberwang will forcibly remove Manchester City from the equation.

“All the other teams are jostling for position in a peloton that may or may not have a sky blue breakaway to chase down. This is Schrödinger’s Table until that particular case is closed; there is indeed a huge day in the title race this week, but it’s not today. It’s tomorrow.”

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Team news: Van de Ven and Solanke return, Trossard starts

Great news for Spurs: Micky van de Ven and Dominic Solanke are fit to start. Big Ange has picked an extremely attacking team, with Rodrigo Bentancur playing Colin Calderwood in an Ossie Ardiles tribute XI. Brennan Johnson also comes back into the side. The four players who miss out are Radu Dragusin, Wilson Odobert, Yves Bissouma and Pape Sarr.

Jorginho replaces the suspended Declan Rice and will captain Arsenal in the absence of Martin Odegaard. Gabriel Martinelli replaces him, which gives Mikel Arteta a few options. Trossard or Havertz could drop into midfield, or Arsenal could play with a box. Raheem Sterling is among the substitutes.

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Updated at 14.04 CEST

Preamble

The calendar never lies, and today it says 15 September. That’s right, September. Not May, April or even December. You wouldn’t know it from some of the previews of today’s North London derby, which have stopped just short of opining that world peace depends on Team X getting a result.

All North London derbies matter, and they’re usually great fun fun for the neutral. And both teams do need a result for different reasons. But it’s still September and it’s probably more conducive to world sanity if we try to remember that.

So, why it matters. Spurs need to improve their performances:points ratio, having taken only 10 from their last 10 league games, and Arsenal could be without their entire first-choice midfield for the first time in years. That’s not ideal when you are a) playing Tottenham and b) watching Erling Haaland gambol towards the horizon. If, say, Arsenal draw today and lose at the Etihad next Sunday, they will already be eight points behind Manchester City.

Then again, if they win them both they’ll be a point above City and at least six clear of Spurs. And whatever happens, there will still be 32 league games remaining. It’s September, stupid.

Kick off 2pm.

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