White vs Vicario, Possession & Match Stats in favour of home side & more- Talking Points from Tottenham 2-3 Arsenal

Mikel Arteta became the first Arsenal manager to win back-to-back away league games at Spurs in the modern Premier League era as his side beat Ange Postecoglou’s men 3-2 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Arteta opted to keep faith with the same XI that had thrashed Chelsea 5-0 in midweek while Spurs made three changes, with Destiny Udogie, Yves Bissouma and Brennan Johnson dropping out and Ben Davies, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Dejan Kulusevski coming into the starting XI.

Here are our talking points from the big NLD.

Ben White vs Vicario

White made a nuisance of himself at corner time, distracting Spurs goalkeeper Vicario and indirectly having a hand in both goals that the Gunners scored from set-pieces in this game. A little bit of the dark arts from the Arsenal right-back (he even attempted to intefere with Vicario’s gloves just before the first goal!), but one could also argue that Spurs’ players should’ve protected their goalkeeper better.

Ben White vs Vicario

Ben White distracting Vicario

Possession and match stats in favour of home side

Spurs were clearly the dominant side in the first half, with 72% of possession and more than 3x the number of passes, but bizarrely trailed 3-0 at the interval, with Arsenal punishing the Lilywhites for every little mistake they made.

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xG Tottenham vs Arsenal 2024 Attendance 61,554 | Expected Goals Stats Spurs 2-3 AFC

Son chance v Arsenal 2024

Here is a look at the xG (expected goals) stats for Spurs v Arsenal (Official crowd attendance of 61,554 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 28 April, 2024).

Three massive points for Arsenal on the back of a strong first-half performance, but they were given a scare at the end after two errors from David Raya and Declan Rice allowed Spurs back into the game.

xG Tottenham 2.19-1.04 Arsenal shots map (Actual score THFC 2-3 AFC)

0-1 Hojbjerg own goal (no xG for an own goal)
0-2 Saka goal v Spurs xG 0.22
0-3 Havertz header goal vs Spurs xG 0.34
1-3 Romero goal vs Arsenal xG 0.14
2-3 Son penalty goal vs Arsenal xG 0.80

Spurs vs Arsenal xG 2024

Apart from then goal, Spurs had decent chances through Romero header 20th minute (hit post), Son 45th minute (wide), and Romero again (51st minute header). But Spurs’ first shot on target (after 10 odd previous shots) in the game was the Romero goal.

First half possession stats: Tottenham 72 % Arsenal 28%
Second half possession stats: Tottenham 52 % Arsenal 48%

Spurs made nearly 3x the number of passes that Arsenal did in the first half, but the second half number was pretty equal.

Tottenham vs Arsenal 2-3 Match Stats for comparison

(THFC on left; AFC match stats on right)

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xG Arsenal vs Chelsea 5-0 April 2024 | Expected Goals Stats AFC CFC Attendance 60,238

Here is a look at the xG (expected goals) stats from Arsenal v Chelsea (Crowd attendance of 60,238 on 23 April, 2024). A comfortable 5-0 win for the Gunners.

xG Arsenal 2.66-1.35 Chelsea shots map (Actual score AFC 5-0 CFC)

1-0 Trossard goal vs Chelsea xG 0.08
2-0 White goal vs Chelsea xG 0.10
3-0 Havertz goal vs Chelsea xG 0.33
4-0 Havertz second goal vs Chelsea xG 0.09
5-0 White second goal vs Chelsea xG 0.04

xg Arsenal vs Chelsea 2024

Chelsea’s two biggest chances on xG came for Disasi (19th minute- he just about made contact, but it was an open net chance), and Nicolas Jackson in the 61st minute.

Arsenal’s biggest chances on xG apart from the goal went to Trossard (27th minute), Havertz 51st minute and Martinelli (90+7′) minutes.

CFC had just one shot on target in the whole game.

Arsenal vs Chelsea 5-0 Match Stats for comparison

(AFC match stats on left; CFC stats on right)

27 shots to 7 for Arsenal, but more possession for Chelsea (56% to AFC’s 44%)

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