Thank god that game is over. At half time I was in absolute dreamland. Three goals to the good away at Tottenham despite putting in a pretty average performance. I felt like it was over already. I forgot what game I was watching. A calamitous David Raya error and Heung-Min Son penalty had me panicking in the final moments.

A BIG WIN ON THE ROAD ❤️ pic.twitter.com/RbaCBtvaqe

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 28, 2024

Arsenal did win 3-2 and now have only three games left this season but it almost didn’t feel like a win as the hope was given back to Tottenham fans thanks to Arsenal’s even poorer second half. I haven’t seen Arsenal hang on like that in a long time and it didn’t feel good knowing Tottenham were a goal away from absolute bedlem and ruining our season.

If we ignore the second half we can talk about how good Kai Havertz looks in an Arsenal shirt right now. The diagonal ball from Kai to Bukayo Saka to set up our second goal was phenomenal and is a side of Havertz’s game that we haven’t seen a lot of since he signed for us.

The quality of Saka’s finish was sublime and shows the inevitability of the winger when he’s allowed to cut inside. Havertz’s header was a great moment as we hadn’t had success from set pieces in a few months and to score from two in such a pivotal match was fantastic to see.

🔴⚪️✨ Bukayo Saka has 33 G/A contributions this season for Arsenal in all competitions.

19 goals, 14 assists. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 pic.twitter.com/OQj98aCJ4H

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) April 28, 2024

The second half was going fine for us for the first twenty minutes. Saka had got close to scoring our fourth and we were firmly in control of the match. But North London derbies are rarely boring and something just had to change the narrative.

David Raya has been so calm in goal for Arsenal as of late and somehow he mistakenly passed the ball to Romero to give Spurs a lifeline. It was a flashback to his first few games for the Gunners as he was extremely shaky when put under presssure.

Even after this Arsenal held firm and kept the score at 3-1 knowing they had all three points in the back as long as they kept the game slow. Once again the North London derby twists had a part to play as Mr Reliable, Declan Rice, rashly kicked out at Ben Davies in the box to set up a Son Penalty with minutes left.

We’re twenty points above Tottenham, we’ve dropped five points this year and we were actually holding on to a lead against a team which leaked five goals last time at at Newcastle.

Thankfully in the end we held on and that final whistle came as a relief. I couldn’t even celebrate after the match as the final ten minutes had me contemplating how awful a Spurs equaliser would be.

📸 | Arsenal celebrating their win in front of the travelling fans at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.👏 pic.twitter.com/bZ7YjoFXvF

— Connor Humm (@TikiTakaConnor) April 28, 2024

Now the big fixture that sticks out is against Manchester United at Old Trafford in two weeks time. After the way I saw Arsenal deal with pressure today I can’t convincingly say that we will beat United as clearly from today we are still capable of giving away chances.