Arsenal 1-0 Tottenham: Why Supporters Shouldn't Read Too Much into Derby Loss

As the dust settled on a fascinating North London derby on Sunday, Tottenham dropped their third consecutive encounter with Arsenal at the Emirates.

While the 1-0 scoreline is much easier for supporters to stomach than the past two Spurs losses to the Gunners, which each finished 5-2, this loss was also much more frustrating.

In 2011-12, the obvious reason for the horrendous manner in which Tottenham lost to their bitter rival was the club's ridiculous late-season collapse. As then-manager Harry Redknapp lost his job not too long after, it is easy for fans to write the result off as an aberration.

Last season, the clear culprit was Emmanuel Adebayor, whose incredibly rash tackle on Santi Cazorla in the early stages of the first half wiped away a fine start for Spurs and destroyed any hopes they had of finishing that match on top. Seeing as Adebayor hasn't had a look into the side this season, it is easy to conclude that the result was more a statement on one man's foolishness than Arsenal's dominance.

However, there is no such rationalization for Tottenham's loss this time around.

Given the statistical layout of the match, with the club getting the better of possession and taking more shots, there's no reason that Spurs shouldn't have overcome their biggest foe on Sunday.

The Gunners were simply more effective with their ventures forward and were able to capitalize with Olivier Giroud's fine finish.

In short, Arsenal completely deserved the derby victory and the points that came with it.

On the surface, this fact should be unacceptable given the disparity between the two clubs' summer transfer activity.

While Tottenham sold their biggest asset in Gareth Bale for unfathomable amounts of money and reinvested all of it in new stars, Arsenal spent absolutely nothing.

So, given that these two clubs were separated by a point last season, shouldn't Spurs' upgrades around the park push them over the Gunners? Shouldn't this loss be an indictment on Tottenham's transfer spending?

The answer to both of those questions is an emphatic "no."

With all the shakeups that Tottenham have gone through this summer, it is easy to see that the squad has not yet gelled as a unit.

Hence, as Arsenal's squad is virtually unchanged thanks to the club's lack of activity in the transfer window, the Gunners entered the match with a great advantage in team chemistry.

After all, six of the starting 11 were either summer acquisitions or were away on loan last season.

Further, two of Spurs' biggest summer signings, Christian Eriksen and Vlad Chiriches, are so new to the club that they didn't make it onto the bench.

Yes, Tottenham could have done better on Sunday and Arsenal earned their victory.

However, it is too early to get too worked up over one derby loss, especially due to the time frame of its occurrence.

In the end, the schedule-makers just didn't do Spurs any favors here.

A loss to Arsenal is always a bitter pill to swallow, but Tottenham supporters should merely put it behind them and look forward to the second North London derby at White Hart Lane in March.

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