Tottenham kept their third league clean sheet in a row yesterday in a 2-0 north London derby victory over Arsenal.
First half goals from Son Heung-min and Harry Kane sealed the win before Spurs soaked up pressure in the second half.
For the BBC, Jermaine Jenas went into detail on how Jose Mourinho’s men kept Arsenal talisman Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang under full control.
The approach was essentially to force the Gunners wide, where they would have to cross high into the box and Aubameyang struggled to get away from Eric Dier and Toby Alderweireld in the centre.
“Aubameyang never looked like he was going to get past Alderweireld, or even try to,” said Jenas. “The Spurs defender had full control of that situation, and that is how you could describe the way Tottenham dealt with Arsenal for the entire match.
“Arsenal have always had a bit more about them than that – more guile and more creativity. Arteta has to work out how to get that back. Aubameyang is decent in the air but that is not the route to goal for Arsenal.
“They really want to be picking holes in teams, probing into the channels and trying to slide balls in behind defenders for their fast forwards. We did not see much of that against Spurs.”
Spurs have effectively shut down Kevin de Bruyne and Timo Werner in recent weeks and it was another spoiling job on Aubameyang yesterday.
It wasn’t the same in terms of man-marking, but Spurs made sure that Aubameyang didn’t get the service he requires.
The one time he got into a bit of space, Alderweireld shut him down effectively and Serge Aurier covered the inside.
That’s one major reason why Spurs are set for another week at the top of the table.
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