When did it last feel quite this bad? Arsenal have such an affinity with corners that they are now awarded them even when the ball comes off one of their own players. Later, Myles Lewis-Skelly takes the pause of another set piece to rev up the Emirates roar as he makes his way off the pitch. Unfortunately for Ange Postecoglou, history is always written by the winners.
Not that Lewis-Skelly did not deserve his moment – a midfielder deployed at left-back who excelled in his first north London derby, with perhaps the hardest job of all in snuffling out Dejan Kulusevski’s inside runs.
In that light, it is hard for Tottenham Hotspur to clutch at any positives from a chastening and yet entirely predictable night across the north London divide. Archie Gray was their own Lewis-Skelly – Spurs have become so accustomed to him filling in at centre-back during Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero’s long absences that it is easy for his performances to go under the radar.
Gray epitomises all that is good about this Tottenham side, and since November that list has been getting flimsier. The recruitment in the summer focused almost entirely on teenagers, with the exception of Dominic Solanke – nobody really believed Postecoglou had been sufficiently backed with Gray, Lucas Bergvall, Wilson Odobert and Yang Min-hyeok.
The last is yet to play. Odobert has been limited by injury to three league appearances. Bergvall’s opportunities were similarly restricted in the early part of the season but the first leg Carabao Cup semi-final win over Liverpool was the turning point.
Gray is the light at the end of the tunnel, the evidence that there is more good to come than bad. The process is painful, but may yet prove worthwhile.
Against Arsenal he made seven clearances, and of the starting XI only Bergvall (92.5 per cent) had a higher passing accuracy (88.1). The highlight was the headed clearance from Leandro Trossard’s early effort just when pressure was mounting.
At 18, he is by far Tottenham’s signing of the season, the impact he is having accentuated by the chaos going up in flames around him.
He was perhaps fortunate, on the left of the centre-back partnership, to enjoy the cover of the equally impressive Djed Spence at left-back, himself playing on an unfamiliar flank – and out of position because he was supposed to be, not because he had been dragged there by Arsenal’s makeshift front three.
You only have to look at Antonin Kinsky behind him to see what a week of Tottenham can do to you – from the highs of Liverpool to extra time against Tamworth, to a system that left him vulnerable on league debut in the game that matters more than any other.
The 21-year-old should have done better for Trossard’s winner and perhaps could have been better positioned for the equaliser, but he was under constant pressure when on the ball as Spurs once again declined to adapt to what was in front of them.
Nearly all the elements they normally do so well were absent; Solanke could not hold the ball up, Declan Rice made light work of Yves Bissouma. The introductions of James Maddison, Richarlison and Brennan Johnson improved them after half time but did not produce a single shot on target.
The injuries to Van de Ven, Romero, Ben Davies, Guglielmo Vicario, Odobert, Richarlison (until Wednesday night), Rodrigo Bentancur, Destiny Udogie, Timo Werner and Fraser Forster are desperately unlucky.
We should welcome Postecoglou’s refusal to make excuses even as his reign threatens to peter into a giant “what if?”
What if Van de Ven had stayed fit? What if they had played the contained, mature football of the Liverpool tie throughout the season? If Romero heads to Real Madrid this summer, what then? Gray was signed in part for his versatility – he can play at right-back, central midfield and as he has shown, at centre-back – but it cannot have been foreseen just how vital he would become.
Essentially, he has covered Tottenham’s tracks, just as Spence has made the absence of a regular deputy for Udogie look plausible. The consequence, as Postecoglou put it afterwards, is a dressing room of “hurting” youngsters, who are having to undertake “big jobs”.
“I want them disappointed,” he said, when asked if he could take solace in his cavalry of 18-year-olds. “This can’t be accepted by anyone at the club. Us losing so many games in a league season [11] is not right.”
Points wise, the comparisons are not kind – Spurs are on course for 43, a lowest ebb since 2007-08 and 2003-04. In both of those seasons, Daniel Levy sacked the manager (Glenn Hoddle and Martin Jol) midway through.
Tottenham’s next chapter will be defined by the decisions taken over the coming months, and by a chairman not famed for his patience. In Gray, there is at least a semblance of the bigger picture on show.
