Hungry and humble. That was how Mikel Arteta described Arsenal after October's north London derby victory at Emirates Stadium.
Tottenham have been less humble, more humbled, by their meetings with the Gunners this season, and Sunday's 2-0 home defeat made Spurs the victims of a first Gunners double in the north London derby since 2013-14.
With Arteta, Arsenal have a manager who understands his players, who draws the very best from them, and who might be just about halfway to a remarkable Premier League title.
In return, Arsenal's players get all the praise under the sun, but they are asked to stay focused, and duly they obey their Spanish leader.
When Arteta and captain Martin Odegaard demanded the players walk away from a post-match disturbance, away they went, to celebrate in front of their own supporters at the other end of the pitch.
This was Arsenal's first victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, they lead the Premier League by eight points after 18 games, and they have an awful lot to celebrate before putting on their next game face.
A fan in a Tottenham section appeared to aim a kick at Arsenal goalkeeper Ramsdale seconds after the full-time whistle, climbing on pitchside railings to do so before scampering away pathetically, oblivious to the existence of television cameras.
That buffoon will doubtless get his comeuppance and Spurs themselves may face FA sanctions. It was a sorry and needless way for the game to end from a Tottenham perspective, and it had already been plenty grim enough.
Ramsdale played his own brilliant role in a fine Arsenal victory, while opposite number Hugo Lloris had a nightmare, with his own goal setting the visitors on their way.
Arsenal won 3-1 at home in October to consolidate their early hold on top spot, when a fumble from Lloris in the first game allowed Gabriel Jesus to put the hosts 2-1 ahead.
Arteta said after that game: "It is a really hungry and humble team, believe me. We know where we are. There is nothing that we have done yet, and there are still a lot of things to improve, and that's the direction that we are taking."
His message still stands. The title is a long way off, but Arsenal do not look like a team about to implode.
Here, Arsenal nudged their way ahead in the 14th minute, with Bukayo Saka's cross from the right taking an inconvenient nick off Ryan Sessegnon before former France captain Lloris juggled it over the line in shambolic fashion.
Son Heung-min probably should have put Spurs level three minutes later, but Ramsdale made himself big to block the South Korean's shot after Sessegnon's clever pass.
A stunning volley from Thomas Partey left the right post shaking in the 25th minute as Arsenal moved in for the kill, and Odegaard was lethal from 25 yards in the 36th minute, sending a scorching low shot inside the right post as Lloris – him again – failed to get across to the skidding ball.
Arsenal looked light years ahead of their hosts in terms of their use of the ball, slowly strangling all life out of Tottenham.
Grant Xhaka completed all 32 passes he played in the first half. Often simple, each time those passes kept Tottenham off the ball.
Curiously, Tottenham's 43.82 per cent share of the ball in the first half was their highest in a Premier League home game this season, but they were rarely hurting Arsenal.
Odegaard's goal took him to eight for the season, making the Norwegian midfielder the team's leading scorer. He is fulfilling the captain's brief to lead by example quite marvellously.
Ramsdale saved well from Harry Kane's header just before the break, with Kane one away from matching Jimmy Greaves' Tottenham goals record.
Kane will have to wait for that moment. He would have recognised Arsenal's superiority here, and it would have hurt him as much as anyone. Will Kane ever win a trophy at Spurs? It feels increasingly doubtful.
If there was any consolation in their bleak position at half-time, Tottenham may have been aware 16 of their last 17 Premier League goals had been scored in the second half of games, including their last night.
So what did they have left?
The early signs were bright. Dejan Kulusevski, coming in off the left, whipped a shot just over the bar, before Ramsdale saved brilliantly from Sessegnon as the former Fulham player looked sure to score.
But this was a tale of two keepers, and Ramsdale was rock solid.
For Arsenal, Xhaka thrashed a free-kick over, while Nketiah was twice denied by Lloris.
Then at the other end, Spurs substitute Richarlison fluffed a late chance as he allowed Ramsdale to make a comfortable claim.
Tottenham's eight-game home unbeaten streak against Arsenal in the league is over. Though they sit fifth in the table, they are five points behind fourth spot, and 14 points now adrift of Arsenal, having played one more game than Arteta's team.
London life is proving sweet for the men in red, with this a seventh win in seven capital city derbies this season, and a fourth away clean sheet out of four.
Arsenal had not won seven consecutive London derbies since the 2007-08 season. They have not been champions of England since 2003-04.
This is a season of change. A championship beckons. Such is their position of strength, we are getting close to the point where they would have to blow it. But this team are hungry and humble, guided by great leaders. Tottenham, and Antonio Conte, must feel pig sick.
Lydia Bedford takes Brentford Under-18s reins in landmark appointment for women
Lydia Bedford has been announced as Brentford Under-18s head coach in a landmark appointment.
Bedford has left her position as assistant boss with Arsenal’s women team to become the first female coach to take the reins at a men’s professional side in England.
The former Leicester manager is set to work alongside Jon-Paul Pittman, who will join as assistant coach from Forest Green.
Brentford director of football Phil Giles said: “I’m really pleased that we’ve managed to attract such talented coaches as Lydia and Jon-Paul to our under-18 team for next year.
“We undertook an extensive recruitment process for these roles. Lydia and Jon-Paul were the two best candidates, and thankfully we were able to finalise their recruitment to the staff.
“I’m sure they will excel, and we all look forward to working with them through pre-season and beyond.”
Kyogo Furuhashi ‘bullish’ about making Scottish Cup final – Ange Postecoglou
Celtic striker Kyogo Furuhashi is “bullish” about his chances of making the Scottish Cup final despite not training so far this week.
The Japan international went off with a leg knock during last Saturday’s 5-0 win over Aberdeen after coming off worse in a 50-50 with Dons goalkeeper Kelle Roos.
The 28-year-old has scored 33 goals this season and won a clean sweep of Scotland’s player of the year awards, and he has an impressive record in cup finals, with match-winning doubles in the League Cup in each of his two seasons with Celtic.
Boss Ange Postecoglou said: “Kyogo is progressing. He hasn’t trained yet. The plan is to get him out there tomorrow (Friday) and see how he goes. He is doing some individual stuff this afternoon.
“He always is, but he is still pretty bullish about playing so we will just see how he goes.
“We will be guided by him a little bit. We have done that in the past. He has had a couple of times, whether it’s with his shoulder or in last year’s League Cup final he went in with a hamstring that wasn’t totally healed and scored a couple of goals.
“So I will be guided by him. He is very strong mentally so if he gives us the green light we will put him in there.”
The only definite absentee is Australia midfielder Aaron Mooy, who has been nursing a back problem in recent weeks.
Postecoglou said: “(Alistair) Johnston is fine, he has trained all week and (Sead) Haksabanovic is back in so he is available as well. The only real absence is Aaron Mooy.”
Ange Postecoglou not letting speculation distract him from Celtic’s treble bid
Ange Postecoglou has stressed that the chance to join the treble-winning Celtic managers is far too important to allow talk of his future to disturb his focus on Saturday’s Scottish Cup final.
Beating cinch Championship side Inverness at Hampden will give Postecoglou’s team a clean sweep of domestic trophies and make it five out of six available since he arrived from Yokohama F Marinos in Japan in June 2021.
But much of the build-up to the game has been dominated by increased speculation over Postecoglou’s future amid reports the former Australia head coach is Tottenham’s preferred managerial candidate.
The 57-year-old said: “Somebody else was favourite last week, wasn’t he? So, it doesn’t register.
“I get all the interest and why people love to speculate on these things. But we have worked really, really hard to get ourselves into this position and, for me to let my mind wander about anything else than getting our team prepared for a big day on Saturday, is just not who I am.”
Postecoglou has been linked with numerous Premier League clubs this season including Leeds, Everton, Brighton, Crystal Palace and Chelsea so he feels no need to address his players on the matter.
“You are making it sound as if it’s the first time this has happened to me,” he said. “We have done this dance a few times this year. The players are well aware of where my thoughts lie.
“The players have been really good at focusing on what’s important. What’s important is being ready for a big game on Saturday.
“I have handled it before and I’ll handle it the same way. It doesn’t enter my sphere of thinking because my role is to make sure the team is absolutely prepared for what the next challenge is.
“If a cup final isn’t enough to draw all my attention to that, then nothing will be.”
The former Australia head coach, who is on a 12-month rolling contract, also dismissed questions over whether he had talks planned with the club hierarchy.
“No, because again that would mean me planning, organising, thinking about things other than Saturday,” he said.
“Look, I understand that’s your job to ask these questions because that’s the role you are in, but you are not invested in this football club like I am, like the players are, like our supporters are.
“I woke up this morning thinking about one thing, the same thing I have been thinking about for the last five days. I really want to make sure that we play well in this cup final and make it a truly special season.
“I know this football club has had a lot of success recently including trebles but over the history of time there aren’t too many that can claim to that. Not just for myself but for some of these players, it might be the only one they get. So we need to focus on that.
“It’s a massive role to be manager of this football club and for me to be dismissive of potentially our biggest game of the year is just not going to happen.”
Postecoglou could emulate Jock Stein, Martin O’Neill, Brendan Rodgers and Neil Lennon in winning the treble and is relishing the experience of Scottish Cup final day, after losing to eventual winners Rangers in last year’s semi-finals.
“Obviously it was the one trophy that escaped us last year and just the whole day, the occasion, it’s the last game on the calendar and just to be part of it was the first thing we were excited about,” he said.
“Back home the English FA Cup final followed by the Scottish FA Cup was kind of tradition – that was our Saturday night in May. We would religiously watch that, it was a bit of an event for us to sit around and watch those two games.
“It’s not just that it’s a cup final, it’s the occasion, the last game, there is always more about it, just the ceremony of the day. You would love to be a part of it.
“I didn’t watch it last year, so that goes to show that we were still hurting from the fact we weren’t there.
“Now we are there and that’s why we want to make the most of it.”
Postecoglou is also well aware of the history between the two finalists. Inverness have beaten Celtic in three of their seven Scottish Cup meetings, including the only one at Hampden, in the 2015 semi-finals, and in the first one, when then First Division Caley Thistle caused a huge upset which cost John Barnes his job.
“It’s a cautionary tale, put it that way,” Postecoglou said. “It has been mentioned to me a few times, I was aware of it anyway of course.
“But that’s what I am talking about. When people think that I’ve got other things on my mind, that I’d allow anything to enter the sphere where we are not preparing ourselves for that occasion… I don’t want to be that story.
“I want it to have a different ending this time. I want us to be the winners and us to claim the Scottish FA Cup, so that’s where my head’s at.”
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