Sunday’s North-London derby saw Arsenal pick up all three points through a 2-0 win against Spurs.
It was smooth-sailing for the Gunners for a majority of the game, as they dominated proceedings and eventually found the lead through a goal-keeping howler by Hugo Lloris
Arsenal continued to pile on the pressure in search of a second, which came courtesy of a clinical strike from outside the box by Martin Odegaard.
In contrast, Spurs were mostly toothless in the first 45, leading to plenty of groans and sighs from the home support.
Antonio Conte’s men picked things up in the second half but failed to find much joy, as the Gunners dealt with the home side’s offensive comfortably.
In the end, the game lived up to the ‘derby’ label, as the football on display, especially in the second half, made for an entertaining watch.
Being a clash between historic rivals, drama and controversy are to be expected, and Sunday’s derby didn’t disappoint in that regard either.
Aside from the shocking Aaron Ramsdale incident after full-time, a particular point of intrigue came when Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli walked over to the corner flag for a set piece.
As he rolled the ball over to the spot, the sight of fellow Brazilian compatriot Richarlison caught his eye.
The Spurs forward was standing by the flag and spectating the game, eager to get in on the action himself.
After noticing Richarlison, Martinelli offered a handshake to his International teammate, only to receive a stern rejection.
The former Everton player reacted coldly to Martinelli’s gesture, as he stood motionlessly and then proceeded to mouth something towards his national teammate, perhaps something along the lines of ‘get on with it’.
His reaction earned him a few cheers from the home support, and jeers from those in Red, but the opinions online were mostly criticizing his actions.
Richarlison has always been a troublesome figure on the pitch, as the Brazilian has picked up a reputation for being a nuisance and for taking unnecessary dives.
His coldness to Martinelli certainly didn’t help public opinion, but he managed to smooth things over with the Arsenal man himself through an Instagram meme.
The forward posted an image to his Insta story, which displayed two children wearing the same t-shirt, with his and Martinelli’s face edited in place of the originals.
The image itself was born through an ingenious plot by a Brazilian mother to reunite her quarrelling children.
She grabbed a t-shirt, scribbled unifying thoughts on it, and even named it the ‘T-shirt of friendship’.
The caption on it presents a three-pronged approach to fix any conflict, ‘T-shirt If you fight, you must wear it. Apologize. Hug it out. Say ‘I love you’.
By using a modified version of the meme, Richarlison made it clear that it wasn’t personal, just a bit of derby animosity, and we sincerely hope that the pair did indeed hug it out.
An ‘I love you’ would just be a neat bonus.
