LONDON — It was far from perfect in the north London derby for Arsenal but they were rewarded for their bravery to go for it.
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Mikel Arteta deserves to be applauded for tweaking the formation slightly to give a free role to Eberechi Eze, as he and Bukayo Saka dragged Spurs all over the place.
Arteta could have played a more defensive central midfield in Odegaard's place but Eze's inclusion from the start was a sign of intent. It signaled to the rest of the team to go for it and Arsenal should have led by a few goals early in the first half as they were guilty of wasting big chances.
In the end they were rewarded for being brave and now have a five-point lead atop the table, even though Manchester City have a game in-hand.
With Eze and Saka buzzing around Viktor Gyokeres and Leandro Trossard cutting in from the left to join in the fun, set the tone for this swarming, relentless Arsenal display as they simply ground down Spurs with their superior movement, speed and quality on the ball.
After taking the lead in the first half Arsenal let Spurs back in the game with a poor mistake from Declan Rice, as there were concerns the pressure of a title race was getting to them, and there were other wobbles too. But that mostly came because they took more risks in attack and were a little open on the counter.
That is what it's going to take.
After watching them be too conservative in recent games against Brentford and Wolves when they took the lead and sat back and ended up drawing both games, this performance should now make it clear to Arsenal and Arteta that he has to risk more to get them over the line and win the Premier League title this season.