Ben White chose the dark arts in Sunday’s north London derby as he celebrated Arsenal’s winning goal in front of a devastated James Maddison.
Gabriel scored the only goal with a header from a corner and it looked like it might come too late after Tottenham repeatedly panicked in defending corners.
It took Mikel Arteta’s depleted side 64 minutes to break the deadlock and when they did they erupted into jubilant celebrations at their rivals’ stadium.
Fans saw White clenching his fists and roaring in Maddison’s face for a couple of seconds as his teammates walked away celebrating.
Maddison was part of England’s 2022 World Cup squad in Qatar that White left for ‘personal reasons’ – with The telegraph He later reported that he had had an argument with Gareth Southgate’s assistant Steve Holland in front of his team-mates.
Ben White celebrated Arsenal’s winning goal against Tottenham in James Maddison’s face
Gabriel rose above the crowd to head in the winner as the Gunners won another away derby.
Mikel Arteta praised his team’s “ugly” performance and their “thick skin” in the absence of several stars
Only after mocking Maddison did he rush off to join the group at the corner flag as Gabriel and his castmates rejoiced in front of the visiting fans.
White’s celebration divided opinion among fans: some praised her passion, while others found her lacking in class.
“Ben White celebrating in Maddison’s face. Love it,” wrote one fan on X, formerly Twitter.
“It’s a derby, for God’s sake, this is exactly what should be happening,” said another. “No hugs and hugs between opposing coaches and players. As fans in a derby we want the players to give their all and be as passionate as we are.”
“We love your shameless actions,” wrote one.
Not everyone appreciated the act, with one saying: “Classy, NO, and I’m not a Spurs fan. Remind me again what you’ve won in recent years.”
A resounding victory for Arsenal, with several players absent, allowed them to move into second place in the Premier League with 10 points from four games, two behind Manchester City.
The Gunners found it difficult for long stretches of the game but defended stoutly to keep their third clean sheet of the campaign.
Arsenal have won six consecutive Premier League away games for the first time since 2013
Spurs are languishing in the bottom half after winning just one of their first four games this season
Arsenal fans loved White’s behaviour, but other spectators considered it lacking in decorum.
It was Tottenham’s third consecutive away win and sixth consecutive Premier League victory, having last achieved this in 2013.
Their set-piece coach, Nicolás Jover, has received much praise and they have already scored 24 goals from set pieces since the start of last season, the most of any team.
Arteta had to deal with difficult circumstances as Declan Rice was suspended while Martin Odegaard, Riccardo Calafiori, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Mikel Merino and Takehiro Tomiyasu were all ruled out.
“We have an important week coming up and that will give us a lot of motivation, energy and confidence,” Arteta said after the match.
‘We have people who are tough and have thick skin. They love the game and we love to win.
‘To love the game and win you have to do things that people call ugly.
“To enjoy those ugly things is a great compliment to this team right now. When you can do that regularly, you get a nice treat.”
‘The players adapted. Loving the game means you can do things no matter the context.
‘All of them, that’s the spirit and the characters that we have that I love.’
As for Spurs, they are languishing in the bottom half of the table after picking up four points from as many games.
