Arsenal, as is their habit, made a very large meal of beating a mediocre Spurs, struck down by injuries but still well short of the standards expected. The door is ajar for Arsenal and Arteta, but they will struggle to open it any further unless they do what seems plainly obvious and sign a striker to give them a cutting edge.

Arsenal closed the gap on Premier League leader Liverpool to four points after a 2-1 victory over Tottenham on Wednesday. Mikel Arteta’s team took advantage of Liverpool’s draw with Nottingham Forest on Tuesday, with Leandro Trossard firing the winner in the north London derby at the Emirates Stadium.