Tottenham legend Gary Mabbutt was out on the pitch at half time talking with affection about north London derbies of yore.
How you never could never tell what might emerge once the rivalry was held to the flame. How each duel created its own identity.
This one though, there was something eerily familiar about. A frantic street skirmish in designer slip-ons settled in Arsenal’s favour with a blow from a set-piece.
After that, they held an outstretched arm with a hand to the Spurs forehead and simply kept it there untroubled by the thrashing about.
That will be tough for Ange Postecoglou and his team to digest. Having finished 23 points adrift of the neighbours last season they were hoping to find evidence of progress but there was barely a hint of it, even with the visitors shorn of their captain and two key midfielders.
Arsenal beat fierce rivals Tottenham 1-0 in a fiercely contested north London derby
The north London derby is rarely a match without incident with tensions often spilling over
Once they survived an intense Tottenham opening, Arsenal looked solid. Stronger, more cohesive and better organised than the home team. Altogether more serious as an outfit.
Once ahead, they never looked like conceding and they protected their goalkeeper David Raya superbly.
Dejan Kulusevski, who forced early saves, fizzed one over in the closing seconds and that was about it by way of a late rally.
The biggest cheers from the home crowd were reserved for Cristian Romero tearing around dangerously at the back and Micky van de Ven sliding into recovery tackles.
It is all part of the Postecoglou vibe. It’s great fun and rarely dull but it can be untidy. And they will always be vulnerable on the break or from a set-piece against the best teams in the Premier League.
Usually, they summon chances but here chances were scarce. There was no late swell of pressure kicking towards the South Stand.
The points were lost to a goal from a corner to trigger cold-sweat flashbacks to last season when this became a recurring theme.
Not because there is no designated set-piece coach on the staff or because they don’t work hard on the training pitch. Rather because they are short of aerial presence.
On the evidence of this and four points from the previous three games little has changed this season.
Dominic Solanke is new to the group and decent in the air but beyond Romero and Van de Ven there are few to compete defensively with Arsenal’s towering quartet of centre halves with Thomas Partey and Kai Havertz thrown in for good measure.
Arsenal defender Gabriel scored the only goal of the game, with a match-winning header (64')
Gunners' head coach Mikel Arteta has overseen three consecutive away victories at Spurs
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou will be frustrated with Tottenham's defensive frailties
Romero was in vague attendance on this occasion until Gabriel gave him a shove in the back to knock him off balance and eased away, leaping to meet Bukayo Saka’s swerving delivery with a firm header.
Tottenham asked hopefully about a foul but there was no help coming from referee Jarren Gillett. It will go down as poor defending by their best defender. Romero failed to engage with one of Arsenal’s danger men and he knew it.
To complain about a push or claim Jurrien Timber should have been sent off because he went over the top on Pedro Porro in the first half when he was trying to roll the ball away would be to miss the point. Spurs were second best.
Postecoglou sent on subs but the pattern of the contest barely changed. If anything, Arsenal bound tighter. They risked less, limiting themselves to the occasional menacing counterattack.
It was a muscular performance. A classic of the ‘1-0 to the Arsenal’ genre to warm the cockles of the pre-Wenger old guard on the red and white side of this divide. One achieved without Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard or new signing Mikel Merino and with five teenagers on the bench.
Arsenal came with a plan and stuck to it. They settled into a 4-4-2 shape. Havertz and Leandro Trossard were the front two but often there was nobody up front as they worked busily back into midfield.
Sometimes the wide men Saka and Gabriel Martinelli were the furthest forward. Sometimes all four of them were up, pressing and hustling. If they were unable to force mistakes from Spurs as they passed out from Guglielmo Vicario they dropped deep and absorbed pressure.
The fullbacks neutralised the wingers and Jorginho and Partey smothered the areas where Kulusevski and James Maddison wanted to operate.
Kulusevski forced early saves and Solanke, at £65million from Bournemouth the most expensive Premier League signing of the summer and back from injury, made a positive start.
He led the line and disturbed both central defenders and went close with a header in each half, but failed to produce an effort at goal from perhaps his best chance which broke to him in the box in the first half.
Spurs legend Gary Mabbutt spoke at half-time about his favourite north London derbies
Arsenal have now won three of their four games of the 2024-25 Premier League season
There were groans at the end with a few boos thrown in. True, they just don’t like to beaten at home by Arsenal but there might be something else beginning to eat away. An underwhelming start to this campaign follows on from an underwhelming end to the last.
Spurs have won five of the last 15 in the Premier League, four of them last season against the bottom four and one this season at home to rock bottom Everton. Wednesday’s trip to Coventry looms large.
The Carabao Cup defeat on penalties with a weakened team at Fulham last season was the low point of a brilliant start to the Postecoglou era.
Another feeble cup exit before another London derby against Brentford on Saturday and the dark mood may deepen.