After the remarkable way in which Arsenal dropped points last midweek, what they needed on Sunday afternoon was a calm affair against Tottenham Hotspur. An easy win was the order of the day.
However, now under the stewardship of Igor Tudor, Spurs ensured that for at least a large portion of the game that the Gunners did not have things all their own way.
Eberechi Eze - Tottenham's newfound nemesis - opened the scoring but within 24 seconds of the restart Randal Kolo Muani had popped up with his very first Premier League goal.
Arsenal supporters thought this was another case of dropping points from a winning position but thankfully, on this occasion, Mikel Arteta's men had learnt their lesson.
The Spaniard's in-game managemant was far better, as was the performance of his charges who ultimately ended up coasting to a 4-1 victory with three goals coming in the second half.
Eze and Viktor Gyokeres, two maligned figures for much of the campaign, were the stars of the show, scoring two goals each. They certainly bailed out Declan Rice who had an interesting game, let's put it that way.
Declan Rice's moment to forget
Speaking in the build-up to this one, the midfielder revealed that the Arsenal players had a team meeting following that 2-2 draw with Wolves last Wednesday. He also issued a reminder, you cannot afford to lose games against Spurs.
Well, while Rice is often outspoken, the £105m signing didn't have his finest game in north London. That said, he still walked off the field at full-time having had a positive impact on the game as he and his teammates were able to bounce back from his mistake.
It's safe to say that the England international doesn't make many errors but he made a vital one that allowed the hosts back into the game.
After Eze had found the net, Rice gathered the Arsenal players and told them to concentrate and switch on. After all, they have dropped countless pointless from winning positions already this term and he was in no mood to see that happen again.
Sadly for the former West Ham man, it was he who made the blunder. Rice tried dribbling out of his own penalty area but was dispossessed. William Saliba didn't then get close enough to Kolo Muani who found the net just moments after Arsenal had initially taken the lead.
Fortunately for Rice, Eze and Gyokeres were able to dig his teammates out of a hole, but after that mistake, the midfielder did actually lead by example. Hopefully that's his one mistake for the season out of the way.
He certainly let Arteta down in the moment, but he wasn't the worst player on the visiting team this weekend.
Arsenal's biggest underperformer vs Spurs
When you win a big derby 4-1, there are not many negatives to pick out. Yet, the performance of winger Leandro Trossard must be highlighted for all the wrong reasons.
Truth be told, this has been an excellent season for Trossard to date. The Belgian has been one of the best left wingers in the Premier League, contributing seven goals and eight assists across all competitions.
However, the 31-year-old's recent form leaves something to be desired, having last found the net on 30th December 2025 in Arsenal's 4-1 win over Aston Villa.
Following that, it's been 13 long games since Trossard last scored a goal. During that run, he's also only picked up a solitary assist. For someone who usually demands so much of himself and his teammates, it's a dismal run of form and a surprising one at that considering how he'd started 2025/26.
While it's difficult to suggest the north London derby was the nadir of his season to date, it was a performance that raised question marks about the Belgium international's long-term place in Arteta's starting lineup.
Handed a 4/10 player rating, unlike his teammates in red and white, Trossard failed to really generate many goalscoring opportunities and cut a pretty isolated figure out on the left-hand side.
Perhaps what didn't help was the way in which Arteta profiled Gyokeres on Sunday. Arsenal have not played to the Swede's strengths this term but they certainly did at the weekend. How did they do that? Well, the centre-forward was incredibly keen to get into the left channel and it was from that position that he scored.
Operating in the left channel was bad news for Trossard who likes to cut inside from those areas. It was perhaps unsurprising, therefore, that on Gyokeres' best day for the club, the Belgian had one of his worst displays this season.
While the former Brighton man did produce four shots, he only generated an expected goals (xG) tally of 0.24. Furthermore, while Bukayo Saka and Eze generated four key passes, Trossard was severely lacking in that department.
He didn't manage a single key pass or cross on Sunday, while four dribbles he attempted went uncompleted.
Ahead of a busy time in the season, Arteta needs more from his experienced winger and it would not be a surprise if he was dropped for the clash against Chelsea next weekend.
Gabriel Martinelli doesn't feel like a viable option right now either so perhaps we may well see Eze fielded on the left, with Martin Odegaard operating from a more central area. With Trossard out of form, it's certainly worth a try.