Football coach and analyst Harry Brooks has insisted that Tottenham Hotspur didn’t dominate Arsenal despite having more of the ball as the Gunners did what they wanted during the game.
A bullet header from Gabriel Magalhaes in the 64th minute was the difference as Arsenal beat Tottenham in the north London derby on Sunday.
Arsenal converted a set-piece to score the goal and they have been hailed for being a difficult team to defend against from dead ball situations.
The home side had 64 percent of the possession and Tottenham star Heung-Min Son claimed after the game that Spurs dominated the game despite losing at home to their local rivals.
However, Brooks has taken on that narrative and insisted that Spurs didn’t control the game despite what the possession stats suggest.
Dominating the ball is dominating the game, Arsenal played out the way they wanted
The football coach and analyst stressed that it is wrong to assume that just because Spurs had more of the ball, they dominated Arsenal during the game.
He pointed out that while Arsenal underperformed a bit, the Gunners still played out from defense the way they wanted and eventually were good enough to walk away with all three points.
“Having possession isn’t dominating the game”, Brook took to X and wrote.
“Arsenal dominated the game because they could play it out in the exact fashion they wanted [and arguably even slightly underperform as they weren’t great on transition yet still did enough to win] to get 3 points.”
A sweet derby win but big challenges ahead
The win is likely to be even sweeter as Arsenal were missing two of their top stars in Declan Rice, who was suspended, and Martin Odegaard, who is recovering from an ankle injury.
Arsenal will be travelling to the Etihad to take on champions Manchester City on Sunday but have Champions League action to take care of on Wednesday night when they will take on Atalanta in Italy.
