🔬 The Debrief as Arsenal win NLD & Newcastle seal comeback win at Wolves | OneFootball

Gameweek four of the new Premier League season concluded on Sunday with two games.

Let’s take a look at what went on.

What happened?

In the standout game of the weekend, Arsenal overcame the absence of both Declan Rice and Martin Ødegaard, as well as new signing Mikel Merino, to grind out a precious 1-0 win at Tottenham, securing North London bragging rights once again. The Gunners have now won on their last three visits to their greatest rivals.

Gabriel was the hero, powering home a header in the 64th minute from a corner, as Arsenal showed off their set-piece prowess.

In the later kick-off, Newcastle also survived the half-time loss of Alexander Isak to come from behind to defeat Wolves 2-1 at Molineux.

Mario Lemina gave the home side the lead just before the break, finishing off a brilliant counter-attack that featured an exquisite dummy from João Gomes.

The Magpies rallied though, scoring two long range goals in the space of five minutes late on in the game. There was more than a touch of fortune about their first, Fabian Schär’s effort taking a big deflection off Craig Dawson before nestling in the top corner.

There was nothing lucky about their second, though, as substitute Harvey Barnes cut in from the left, and curled home an absolute screamer with 10 minutes left to win it for his side.

Player of the Day

With his first-choice midfield decimated, Mikel Arteta needed his other key men to step up today at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and Gabriel did exactly that, and at both ends of the pitch.

The Gunners had much less of the possession but were mostly content to soak up the pressure, and strike when their time came. Gabriel had little problem doing this, making seven clearances, blocking two shots and winning three duels as Spurs were reduced to very little, particularly in the second half.

As the game edged towards it’s final quarter, the Brazilian defender showed off his goalscoring ability, powering home a header from Bukayo Saka’s corner after somehow being left unmarked, as Spurs’ set-piece frailties were exposed yet again.

Gabriel’s first of the season makes it 15 since he moved to the club, and confirms his spot as the most prolific centre-half across Europe’s biggest and best leagues.

He deservedly won Man of the Match, and will be the toast of the red side of North London for the days and weeks to come.

Stat of the Day

On the other side of the divide, it was another sobering defeat for Ange Postecoglou and his struggling Spurs side.

Facing a weakened Arsenal and with, more or less, their best side, they missed a major opportunity to kickstart their season. Instead, it was just more of the same as their wretched run of form continues.

At the end of October last season, the club had enjoyed their best start to a Premier League campaign, and sat top of the table after 10 games. Then that 4-1 home loss to Chelsea happened, and they’ve never fully recovered.

In the 32 league games since, they’ve lost more games than they have won (14-13), seven of which have come in their last 11 outings.

This season, it’s just one win from four, and that came against crisis club Everton.

Postecoglou has a lot of work to do, with the spotlight set to fall on the Australian after a derby day defeat.

What this means

Newcastle’s comeback win means it’s their best four game start to a season since the 1995/96 season, one in which Kevin Keegan’s “entertainers” came agonisingly close to winning the league title. A repeat is very unlikely, but it is a hugely welcome distraction from the off-field turmoil at St. James’ Park.

As for Wolves, they are winless, but can take a lot of positives from their performance today, with more than enough quality in their ranks to slowly climb the table.

Spurs have just four points from their opening four games, but for Arsenal, it is a massive three points, even this early on in the season, as they look to keep pace with Manchester City.

It also perfectly sets up the clash of the top two of the last two seasons at the Etihad next weekend.

What they said

Ange Postecoglou was not willing to accept his side’s clear frailties stating: “For some reason people think I don’t care about set pieces. It’s a narrative that you can keep going for ages and ages. I understand that.”

“We work on them all the time but we paid the price today. It’s my burden to carry and I’m happy to do that. For us the way forward is to try and turn the football we are ­playing into something meaningful.”

Mikel Arteta was unsurprisingly delighted with his side’s win, and their ability to win “ugly” in his own words.

“The players adapted. Loving the game means that you’re able to do things regardless of the context. All of them, that’s the spirit and the characters that we have that I love.”

What comes next?

Next weekend sees West Ham and Chelsea kick off things on Saturday before Manchester City and Arsenal meet in the biggest game of the season so far on Sunday.