Ramsdale guides Arsenal to historic derby win

Eight years since Mikel Arteta captained Arsenal to an away win against Tottenham, the Spaniard returned as a manager to claim the Gunners’ first away North London Derby win since Mathieu Flamini’s brace secured the three points in 2015.

Arsenal entered Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with more hope than ever – five points clear at the top of the table with the chance to extend their lead to eight after Manchester United took all three points away from their crosstown rivals.

Bukayo Saka continued the visitor’s streak of strong starts by beating his man in the box and cutting the ball back, a cross which was somehow turned into Tottenham’s own net by goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Arsenal lead 1-0 after fourteen minutes.

Shortly after, Arsenal’s goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale would deny Heung-Min Son an equalizer with a great save, making himself big and keeping the game at 1-0. The disparity in the performance of the goalkeepers would ultimately tell the tale of this game.

After watching a thunderous Thomas Partey volley rattle the crossbar, Arsenal continued their relentless press on a dull Tottenham team. Arteta’s three man midfield, as well as the addition of Oleksandr Zinchenko as an inverted full-back, completely overloaded the middle of the park and piled pressure onto Spurs’ five defenders. On the other side of the ball, wingers Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli man-marked wing-backs Matt Doherty and Ryan Sessegnon, neutralizing their offensive output and recreating a numbers advantage for the Arsenal.

With less than ten minutes to go before the half-time break, Martin Odegaard scored his eighth goal of the season with a long-range effort that kept low and found the corner of Hugo Lloris’ net. Going into the break, the visitors lead 2-0.

The second half was all-Tottenham. After a very lacklustre first half, the Spurs attack bombarded their rivals with thirteen shots. Whilst Nketiah struggled to score, Zinchenko got occasionally caught out of position and Tottenham gained all of the momentum, one man stood up for Arsenal.

The sign of a great team is that, when one player is having an off-day, the others can step up and still get a result. When you’re under pressure and nothing seems to go your way, the team can rally together and still get a result.

Sometimes, you just need one player to step up and have an absolute blinder. That’s exactly what Aaron Ramsdale did.

He was absolutely flawless. 7 shots on target faced, 7 saves made, 2.41 expected goals denied. He would simply not be beat. Ramsdale made smother saves, he made saves down low, claimed crosses, made diving saves, yet the greatest of them all came in the 51st minute. After five minutes of unrelenting Tottenham attack, Ryan Sessegnon was clear on goal with just Ramsdale to beat. The home end was already celebrating, Arsenal fans had already accepted it was 2-1 but Aaron Ramsdale would not be denied of his clean sheet. Flinging his left leg at it, the Englishman gets a foot on the ball and sends it wide, making one of the saves of the season.

The Gunners saw out the game, claiming three points and a seventh clean sheet in just ten away games, extending their lead at the top of the table to eight points.