Over the years, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have played out some fiercely contested North London Derbies in the Premier League.
Indeed, at one stage in their collective histories, Spurs were seen as a bogey team that the Gunners constantly found hard to overcome, with Arsenal going the entire 2019/20 season without beating their arch rivals in league action.
Now, however, it's clear who has the upper hand in such a big clash, with Arsenal clinching five wins in a row in the often highly competitive fixture, by demolishing Igor Tudor's hosts 4-1 on Sunday evening.
In the reserve fixture, Mikel Arteta's men also swept their sworn foes aside with ease, as Eberechi Eze's hat-trick broke Spurs hearts, with Tottenham largely second best to the might of the league leaders, again, even with a fresh set of ideas courtesy of Igor Tudor in the managerial hot seat.
How Spurs vs Arsenal unfolded
Arsenal would have entered this high-stakes contest at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with plenty of nerves attached, having crashed to a 2-2 draw at bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers last time out, to give up some ground to Manchester City in the title race.
Arteta and Co did have to put up with some dicey moments up against their enemies from down the road, with Randal Kolo Muani gifting the hosts a pinch of hope when he confidently tucked home a solo effort minutes after the aforementioned Eze handed Arsenal a one-goal lead.
Unfortunately for Spurs, this was just a momentary slice of optimism across a frankly, otherwise, disastrous contest, as Arsenal powered home three goals with confidence in a second half that saw the Gunners dominate.
This shambolic defeat has pushed Tudor's men even further into the relegation mire, with Spurs now only four points above the relegation zone, off the back of the likes of Xavi Simons, only winning one of his 15 duels, as he regularly shirked getting stuck in in such a big showdown.
Gugilelmo Vicario had an equally miserable afternoon against the rampant league leaders, as the Italian only made two saves, while picking the ball out of his busy net four times in total.
Yet, they were not the only players on the home side to underwhelm on Saturday evening.
Spurs star looks like a big waste of money after the derby
Apart from Kolo Muani, who had an additional strike chalked off in the second half, very few Spurs players could trudge off at the end of the 4-1 defeat with positives intact.
Conor Gallagher certainly falls into the bracket of players who suffered from having an awful afternoon against the league leaders, as the former Chelsea midfielder continues to struggle to fit in at Spurs.
The 26-year-old did chip in with an assist during Spurs' eventful 2-2 draw with Manchester City at the start of the month, but since then, it's been an abject stint for the number 22 in his new home, with possession lost a costly 17 times across defeats to Manchester United and Newcastle United in February.
It somehow got worse for Gallagher against Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, with the former Atletico Madrid man only managing to register 11 accurate passes all match long, as even Vicario ended the one-sided affair with 14 accurate passes tallied up, despite giving up possession a high 24 times.
Moreover, the 22-time England international, who has previously shone as a forceful midfield machine for Crystal Palace and Chelsea, could only muster up 22 touches of the ball before being substituted off just after the hour mark, next to Vicario's 42.
No doubt, Tudor will now be assessing what other options he could throw into the central midfield positions, away from having to rely on a sub-par Gallagher going forward, who also failed to amass a single shot or key pass from his uneventful outing. It's safe to say that he's not had the desired impact on this Spurs side, lacking the ability to progress the play swiftly and lacking the necessary ability to keep possession in the middle of the park.
Tudor could be hard-pressed to find an immediate remedy, with the likes of Rodrigo Bentancur sidelined with a serious injury, as Tudor now comes to terms with the difficult mission he has on his hands to keep Spurs from dropping down to the Championship, just a season on from being crowned Europa League champions.
Should he wish to engineer a quick revival, however, Gallagher must be one of the players to come out of the side. Solutions potentially involved moving Joao Palhinha and Archie Gray back into the engine room.