Arsenal did far more than win a north London derby. Their 4-1 dismantling of Tottenham Hotspur felt like a statement of intent from a side learning to live with the suffocating demands of a title race.

Arriving at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium under scrutiny after a wasteful 2-2 draw at Wolves, and with Manchester City having already tightened the gap with victory over Newcastle, Mikel Arteta’s team walked into a pressure cooker. Gary Neville, watching from the gantry, saw a team that refused to wilt.

Arsenal flew out, dominating the opening exchanges and striking first to quieten a raucous home crowd. For Neville, that early control was the first test passed: questions over their mentality, their ability to start fast in hostile territory, were met with authority and composure.

Yet the game was never going to be straightforward. A lapse that allowed Spurs back into the contest provided another examination. The interval loomed with momentum shifting, and Neville framed the second half as a psychological crossroads: could Arsenal reset, reassert themselves and kill the contest?

They did exactly that. A ruthless spell after the break restored their grip and, crucially, extended the lead. Where previous Arsenal sides might have invited chaos, this one imposed it on their rivals. Neville highlighted that capacity to “answer questions” repeatedly over 90 minutes: responding to setbacks, managing emotion, and finding goals when the game demanded clarity.

Hovering over it all was City. Their own celebrations, Neville argued, were part of the mind games that now define every weekend. Every result, every reaction, is a message sent across the title divide. Arsenal, he said, had to cope not only with Spurs but with the sense of City “breathing down their necks” – and they did.

Neville still sees the run-in as a grind rather than a procession. He believes Arsenal may “crawl over the line” if they do prevail, with a potentially decisive trip to the Etihad looming. But in north London, under the fiercest scrutiny, he saw something different from the fragile Arsenal of old: a team embracing the struggle, not fearing it.