ARSENAL proved Myles to be better than Tottenham in the North London derby earlier this week.
Spurs took an early lead at the Emirates through Son Heung-Min, but were canceled out late in the first half by a Dominic Solanke own goal and a Leandro Trossard arrow.
Ange Postecoglou's side then had no answers to turn the score back in the second half as Mikel Arteta's side put in a mature if unremarkable performance.
Yet it was Hale End graduate Myles Lewis-Skelly who proved to be the star of the show as he put on a confident show well beyond his years.
There was also a remarkable display from Declan Rice and a new pressing system was deployed.
There were also the usual suspects of set-piece adjustments, and below our tactics guru Dean Scoggins looked at Arsenal drilling through Ange-ball.
Myles clear
Lewis-Skelly has stepped into Arsenal's backline masterfully, despite being only 18 years old and, of course, a midfielder.
And when he came off the pitch after wowing the Spurs fans, it was reminiscent of Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey doing the same in recent years.
Arteta made the decision to select him over a more natural option like Oleksandr Zinchenko, and it turned out to be a good choice.
Lewis-Skelly did an excellent job against Spurs' danger man Dejan Kulusevski.
But tactically the star did not turn completely.
Instead, Lewis-Skelly went halfway with the roll, leaving Kulusevski puzzled as to whether or not to mark it, when a completely reversed roll would have allowed another player to pick it up.
The teenager's ball-carrying performances were particularly impressive throughout the game, carrying the ball more often than Rice during the game.
A number of times he picked up the ball from Gabriel Magalhaes or the goalkeeper before going into an acre of space.
This was helped by a particularly poor performance from Yves Bissouma and a yellow card from Pape Matar Sarr.
Lewis-Skelly also worked well with Rice in neutralizing the Spurs threat on that side.
It will be very good for his chances in England, given the way Thomas Tuchel was in the stands.
And it could also be that Rico Lewis – who plays a similar role – loses his place, with the Arsenal star being streets ahead of the Manchester City star.
Masterclass rice
Against Tottenham, Rice proved why he is one of the best midfielders in the world.
The former West Ham looked to cover every nook and cranny of the Emirates to eliminate Tottenham's threat.
He was in his own environment working on challenges and approvals and helping Lewis-Skelly.
The midfielder then surprised everyone by showing up in the Spurs penalty area with a thrilling display.
His performance was so full of enthusiasm that it was as if Arsenal were playing with an extra man – not the referee, to be clear.
Spurs did well early in defending the edge of their area, especially in the first fifteen to twenty minutes.
But it was Rice's presence that disrupted the defensive flow and pushed the Spurs midfield back by making runs from deep.
And it also proved effective in breaking the Spurs attack.
Arteta leaks Ange-ball
One thing Spurs can take away from the game is that Postecoglou doesn't just have one way to play.
They would have been disappointed not to go into half-time given the corner incident and a goalkeeping error from youngster Antonin Kinsky as their tactics seemed to be largely working up to that point.
The problem, however, is that because it is such a rigid structure, teams can plan to play against it – not that this means it can always be stopped.
Arsenal executed such a plan to brilliant effect, with the “Wheels of Chaos” we mentioned in our last show emerging after the break.
Yet it was the aforementioned Rice and Martin Odegaard who did brilliant work in midfield, keeping an eye on the right and left players inside respectively.
As we said, from a defensive point of view it would be fatal not to follow the runner from the wheel.
But with Odegaard and Rice following their men, while Raheem Sterling and Trossard also did excellent defensive work, it meant Spurs often had to rush their attacks.
And the result was an effective counter-attack, supported by strong performances from Odegaard and Jurrien Timber on one side and Rice and Lewis-Skelly on the other.
New look press
After coming under scrutiny for failing to beat ten-man Manchester United in the FA Cup, Arteta came up with a fantastic plan to beat Tottenham and throw herself back into the title race.
When in possession, Arsenal are known to operate in a 4-4-2 structure.
But for this match, Arteta switched that system to a 4-3-3 pressing, with Trossard following Porro in an inverted position.
Sterling, Odegaard and Havertz were then able to apply pressure as a three-man unit, allowing Spurs to play balls from the back for the first time and negating one of their most effective weapons.
Set-piece adjustments
Arsenal are known as the king of set pieces for a reason – not that it stopped Gary Neville from taking another dig at Arsenal coach Nicolas Jover.
They are top of the table when it comes to goals from set pieces and corners, and whether you want to criticize that or not, their impact on the Gunners getting points is absolutely undeniable.
And Jover came up with something special against Spurs, not that the visitors didn't have a few set-piece tricks up their sleeves themselves.
Spurs knew that Arsenal had packed both boxes at corners, so sent two players out as corners to drag out some defenders, while two more stars lurked on the edge of the area.
This was exactly where Son scored, with no one picking him up after Sterling, who had earlier caught him from the corner, was dragged away by another dummy run.
But at the other end, Gabriel came in like the unstoppable force he is to force a goal over the line.
Spurs left two players on the pitch in the hope that Arsenal would send fewer players forward, but the home side bravely left their players one-on-one, rather than having a reserve man as extra cover.
Unfortunately for Spurs, there was also very little chance of the goalkeeper managing to catch a cross due to the crowds around his six-yard box.
That's why Jover didn't allow Spurs to derail Arsenal's corner dominance by showing courage in attacking set pieces.
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