With the title race beginning to take its final shape, the pressure was turned up on Arsenal following their 2-2 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier this week, a draw which continued to open up space for Pep Guardiola's side to draw closer to the league leaders.
As each second came closer to the Gunners' North London Derby trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon, the tension grew palpably with Guardiola's City already trimming the lead to just two points following their narrow win against Newcastle United on Saturday.
So when Arsenal took to the hostile ground against new Spurs coach, Igor Tudor, every touch had to be perfect. Fortunately for Mikel Arteta, most were in Arsenal's 4-1 win.
Sustained dominance from the league leaders
From minute one, Arsenal were the agressor pinning fullbacks Piero Hincapié and Jurrien Timber to Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard's side, with two early chances to show thanks to a cross from Timber into the box to striker Viktor Gyökeres, whose header was cleared off the thigh of Romanian center back Radu Dragusin.
And another when Gyökeres cut inside of Dragusin before smoking his effort just wide of the post, all before a lengthy delay in the 9th minute due to what was later deemed as an "IT issue," which caused eight minutes of added time at the end of the first period.
Eberechi Eze finds deserved opener
While it took 31 minutes to eventually break down a weak Tottenham defense, Arsenal No. 10 Eberechi Eze found the watershed moment through a fizzing cross from Saka that took a bobble off the right foot of the Englishman before Eze thumped the effort past Spurs goaltender Guglielmo Vicario to collect his fourth goal this season against Spurs.
However, before Arsenal could even exhale, Tottenham was on the attack and ended up finding a cheap equalizer from Randal Kolo Muani, who poked the ball away from stalwart Declan Rice inside the Arsenal box and weaved himself through a maze of red jerseys before making the game 1-1 in the 34th minute, undoing the dominant opening Arsenal had manufactured.
Saka was slotted in behind the Spurs' backline minutes later, but his effort was quickly smothered by Vicario, setting up a 1-1 score heading into the break.
Arsenal flips the switch
To open the second half, a snapshot by Spurs' spark Xavi Simons forced a reflex save from David Raya, but Tottenham's pressure could not be sustained following the effort as Timber sliced a pass between Spurs' midfield and backline to find Gyökeres who had all the time in the world to strike a shot past Vicario and reassert Arsenal's lead in the 47th minute.
Through a brief moment of controversy, Tudor's side found a second goal from the feet of Kolo Muani, yet it was deemed that while a lofted pass was on its way down, waiting to be struck, Kolo Muani had pushed opposing center half Gabriel to the canvas.
In a discombobulated moment, Dragusin sent a header into a 50/50 battler between Yves Bissouma and Eze, which Eze won and then found a relay pass to Gyökeres, who completed the one-two back to Eze, leading the former Crystal Palace attacker to Saka through. While Saka's initial effort was off target, Eze squared himself in the box and finished the wide-open chance, snatching his fifth goal of the season
against the side that nearly signed him last Summer.
I could see that he wanted to prove something," said Arteta. "He was upset, even with me, because I didn't play him in the other day from the beginning, and some of the decisions that I made. And I start to understand how we're going to get the best out of him now."
While Eze's five goals in two matches against Spurs inflate the 27-year-old's stats, Eze has largely struggled to find the dazzling form his €69.30m fee demanded.
Gyökeres would go on to find his brace in the 90+4th minute of added time, making it eight goals in 25 league matches thus far.
Pressure back on Manchester City
As of publishing, the Gunners currently sit at the top of the table with 61 points, but one more game played than City, who sit on 56 points with a match against Leeds United set for the 28th, as Arsenal will take on fourth-place Chelsea on March 1st.
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