Arsenal beat their arch-rival Tottenham to extend their lead at the top of the table to eight points.

In the first half of the game, only one team showed up, the Gooners. Tottenham was slow and lethargic the whole first half. Arsenal took the lead 14 minutes into the game through Bukayo Saka’s work down the pitch’s right side. At the end line, Saka decided to kick one on target, and Hugo Lloris made a blunder of the situation, palming the ball into his own net to give Arsenal a 1-0 lead.

In the 36th minute, Martin Ødegaard extended the lead to two. Once again, through the work of Saka on the right, who then passed it centrally to Ødegaard, who fired it from distance and beat Lloris, securing the lead for Arsenal. The second half was rather uneventful, with Spurs controlling most of the half but could not find the back of the net due to Aaron Ramsdale making seven saves whilst keeping a clean sheet.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was pleased with his side’s performance saying, “We have a lot of courage and determination with and without the ball, we showed a lot of quality, we showed the intensity requirement and we were really, really at it in every single action.”

Ramsdale was in the news not just for his spectacular goalkeeping but post-game when he went to grab his water behind the net after getting a hand to the face from a Tottenham striker after the game, Richarlison. However, the abuse of Ramsdale did not stop there.

A Tottenham fan kicked him in the back, and the fan scurried up through the seats like a rat. This behavior is unacceptable, and Tottenham should ban the fan for life. The league and the clubs have responsibilities to protect their players, and when a fool does actions like this, they need to be punished.

Arsenal now sits at 47 points atop the table with one more game to reach the halfway point of the season. Arsenal play Manchester United next, who just had a massive win against their local rivals Manchester City. Manchester United is now in the title race, just one point behind City and nine points behind Arsenal. Next Sunday’s match is now the game of the season for both teams.