sport news THE NOTEBOOK: Arsenal FINALLY get the midfield they envisaged, one Tottenham ... trends now
Arsenal sealed back-to-back away wins over Tottenham for the first time in 36 years on Sunday, beating their arch-rivals 3-2 in the North London Derby to stretch their lead at the top.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg began the miserable afternoon for Spurs with an own goal in 15 minutes, before Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz made it 3-0 by the break with the Gunners threatening a pummeling.
Tottenham were much-improved after the break, however, although they needed a large slice of luck to plunder one back through Cristian Romero, before Son Heung-min's brilliant penalty made it a tense ending for the visitors.
Yet Mikel Arteta's side managed to hold onto their ascendancy in the dying embers, and in the process mark St Totteringham's Day for the second season in a row, with Tottenham now unable to finish above them.
Here, Mail Sport's SAMI MOKBEL takes you through some of the stories you might have missed from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Mikel Arteta's Arsenal secured a vital three points against arch-rivals Tottenham on Sunday
Bukayo Saka scored his 15th Premier League goal of the season in the tense victory over Spurs
The hosts paid tribute to club legend Joe Kinnear before the game after he passed away earlier this year
This was what Mikel Arteta had always envisaged. The poetry of Martin Odegaard and robustness of Declan Rice harnessed by the glue in Thomas Partey.
Of course, the Arsenal manager has hardly had the opportunity to execute his midfield masterplan after Partey underwent surgery to, once and for all, cure a long-term groin problem.
We are only now seeing what Arteta had planned all along. For sixty minutes or so, it was formidable. This was the first time Partey has played back to-back matches since August.
He was magnificent for the most part here. If Arsenal are pipped to the post by Manchester City this summer, then the six month absence of Partey provides valid mitigation.
Spurs get the last laughAs Michael Oliver blew for full time, the person in charge of the Tottenham sound system flicked the music on.
Out blasted a song from a band called the Editors. The song: Munich.
Arsenal were bundles out of the Champions League after a 3-2 aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich
Of course, Arsenal recently crashed out of the Champions League against Bayern Munich.
But surely the choice of track here was
