Arsenal Vs Spurs: 5 things we learned – Well, that was wild

Arsenal hosted Spurs in the first North London Derby of the season on Sunday afternoon. Here are five things we learned from the 2-2 draw.

As is almost is always the case in these North London Derbies, Sunday’s latest outing between Arsenal and Spurs was wild. The Gunners hosted this time, but immediately dropped two goals down with some typically terrible defensive errors letting Spurs straight in. Then came the fightback. First, Alexandre Lacazette scored a terrific goal just before half-time, skipping past Jan Vertonghen and lashing into the goal, and then his strike mate, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, notched his customary goal for a second-half equaliser.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — Oh my, Granit Xhaka

Here are five things we learned from the 2-2 draw.

5. Defending the counter-attack

If there was one most concerning aspect of the Arsenal performance, more than some of the lacklustre individual displays that I will touch on later, it is their vulnerabilities against the counter-attack, which were especially present in the first half.

Last week, Unai Emery played in a 4-4-2 diamond, defending very deep and using a conservative, counter-attacking approach in general. Throughout the full season, however, this is not the most sustainable system to use, and Emery knows it. It is why he clearly wants to shift to a 4-3-3 shape with a more offensive approach. But when he does, the team lacks defensive balance against the break.

This was especially true before the break, with Granit Xhaka lacking the mobility to cover the defensive spaces and Sokratis and David Luiz looking extremely rash in their decision-making. Arsenal have been poor defending the counter-attack for many years, and it does not look like it will improve any time soon.