Gabriel earns Arsenal EPL win at Postecoglou’s Spurs

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Gabriel earns Arsenal EPL win at Postecoglou’s Spurs

Gabriel’s second-half header was enough for a depleted Arsenal to secure a 1-0 win at Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham and keep the pressure on Manchester City in the English Premier League title race.

With an away tie at City in seven days, Arsenal’s fixture at their rivals was already being described as a make-or-break game in their quest to be champions following a home draw against Brighton prior to the international break.

But without key duo Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice, the Gunners secured all three points following Gabriel’s 64th-minute goal to stake their title credentials and leave Spurs with just one win so far this term under former Socceroos boss Postecoglou.

For Tottenham, Micky van de Ven was back from injury and off season signing Dominic Solanke led the ******* after missing two games with an ankle problem.

And the former Bournemouth man was involved instantly when he found Son Heung-min, whose pull-back to Dejan Kulusevski produced a fine save from David Raya.

Ben White then saw his blushes spared with 15 minutes gone after he was pounced on by Son, who found Solanke in the area, but he was too easily dispossessed by William Saliba.

Moments later, Saliba then found his name in referee Jarred Gillett’s book for failing to return the ball after a foul on Solanke. It was the first of seven bookings of a fiercely contested first *******.

As the half wore on Arsenal came into the game. Kai Havertz’s header from Gabriel Martinelli’s cross was well-saved by Guglielmo Vicario before the Brazilian should have put the Gunners ahead.

Leandro Trossard’s exquisite through-ball put Martinelli one-on-one with Vicario, but the winger’s effort was tame and his weak effort was comfortably gobbled up by the Spurs keeper.

Jurrien Timber’s challenge on Pedro Porro then sparked a brawl on the touchline with both the Arsenal defender and Vicario front and centre. Both men were booked but Timber escaped a red card for going over the top of the ball following a VAR check.

The hour mark arrived with Van de Ven’s header – straight down Raya’s throat from a James Maddison cross – the only real chance of the second ******* up to that point.

Arsenal looked threatening on the counter-******* with Bukayo Saka’s shot deflected behind off Porro, and from the ensuing corner came the breakthrough.

Gabriel ghosted off Cristian Romero, and with Vicario blocked off, the Brazilian headed home unmarked from a handful of yards out. It was Arsenal’s 23rd goal from set-pieces since the start of last season – more than any club in the league.

Spurs have been the masters of late goals in front of their own supporters during the Postecoglou era, and they wanted a penalty with eight minutes remaining when Gabriel took the ball off Solanke, but Gillett waved away their appeals.

Kulusevski came closest to finding an equaliser but his long-range effort fizzed agonisingly over the bar as Arsenal saw out five minutes of injury time to claim three successive derby wins at Tottenham for the first time since 1988.

“I thought it was a tight game all the way along. we controlled it for the most part and got off to a good start,” Postecoglou told BBC Sport afterwards.

“We didn’t capitalise on the opportunities and we were unable to get on top of them.

“We lost concentration [for the goal]. We’ve got some big guys in there who really ******* the ball and we just switched off for a second.

“I think I’ve said my piece. For the most part we controlled the game today, had good territory and possession but we didn’t make the most of it and we got punished.”

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