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3 takeaways from Arsenal's victory over Tottenham in north London derby

DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP / Getty

The Premier League returned with a bang on Saturday, as Arsenal vanquished Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in the first north London derby of the season, denying Mauricio Pochettino of his 100th victory as Spurs' manager.

A game of millimetres

On another day, both of Arsenal's goals would have been ruled out for offside. But they stood. The flag stayed down as Shkodran Mustafi opened the scoring with a glorious header, and remained down six minutes later, when Alexandre Lacazette collected a pass and fed Alexis Sanchez, who rocketed the ball past Hugo Lloris with his second touch.

It would be absurd to suggest that the assistant referee should have raised his flag in either instance - both cases were a matter of millimetres - but Tottenham can feel hard done by, particularly as Arsenal's first goal came after a free-kick that should have never been awarded.

That being said, Tottenham was uncharacteristically awful, and supporters are clutching at straws if they blame the officiating rather than Spurs' display.

A wonderful afternoon for Mesut Ozil

Mesut Ozil was, without question, the best footballer on the pitch. The German midfielder was the reason that Arsenal controlled the game from start to finish, running more than 12 kilometres while tallying one assist and four key passes over the course of 85 minutes.

All the criticisms of Ozil were nowhere to be seen. He was the hardest-working player, combined well with Sanchez, showed creativity, and tracked back to put Tottenham under pressure. It was a phenomenal performance, and it wasn't a one-off. Nobody can claim to have created as many chances this season as he can.

An off day for Tottenham

Maybe Tottenham was due for a poor game. Perhaps Harry Kane, Hugo Lloris, and Dele Alli weren't at full strength. Regardless, it was a bad day at the office for Spurs.

Tottenham's footballers just didn't look like themselves. They were off the pace, wasteful when in possession of the ball, and lacked a cutting edge in defence. Christian Eriksen and Alli provided little in the way of inventiveness, while Kane and his killer instincts were nowhere to be seen. It's also not often that Lloris is caught flat-footed.

But Mauricio Pochettino felt the performance was "fine," telling Sky in his post-match interview, according to the Guardian's Barry Glendenning: "I think it was an even game in terms of shots on target, in terms of possession but I am disappointed because the small details were against us. When the small details are against us it's difficult to win. I feel very proud of the team and thought it was a fine performance."

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