Unai Emery's Rainman moment reaps rich rewards for Arsenal

The Spaniard showcased his tactical dexterity to outsmart Mauricio Pochettino's visitors

The Arsenal boss issues instructions from the sideline at the Emirates (Getty)

For a man as reliant on meticulous analysis as Unai Emery, nobody predicted Arsenal's manager would make his greatest wager on the Emirates' green velvet in his first north London derby.

The last time the Spaniard had trialled a five-at-the-back formation, against FC Qarabag in the Europa League a month ago, he had done so only when the consequences were slight and the fleeting experiment was abandoned after just 45 minutes, the space left in behind Sead Kolasinac that day too easily exposed by lower-echelon opposition.

Yet, in the biggest game of his tenure, Emery unearthed his playing deck for a gamble which would enable the up-and-down trends of a Chinatown casino, which began as early as the fourth minute when the Bosnian bludgeoned his way down the left-wing and almost set up Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

And it was a loose first hand which would continue to profit. Five times in the first 20 minutes of the derby Kolasinac stampeded past Serge Aurier like a Belgian Blue Cattle, steam fuming from his snout. And it was one such move which resulted in Alex Iwobi being bundled over for a free-kick, leading to Jan Vertonghen’s inexplicable handball, and where moments later Aubameyang would somersault in front of Spurs’ fans having scored the penalty.

The frenetic use of the touchline dragged Tottenham's players to the right of the pitch like shingle caught in a longshore drift. And it allowed Arsenal’s dominate switchblade sweeper Lucas Torreira to dictate the tempo of the match from midfield - shackling Moussa Sissoko's walking wardrobe frame and scything at the knees of Christian Eriksen.

However, within that opening shellacking, the hi-vis yellow hazard signs of Emery's strategy were already present in the spaces behind Kolasinac and Bellerin, Son Heung-min twice skipping past their mud-stuck heels before peppering Bernd Leno’s near post. And as the early momentum subsided, the South Korean's presence in those spaces beyond created a whirlwind around Arsenal's struggling centre-back trio as he attempted to tee up Harry Kane in the eye of the storm he had created.

Arsenal descended into that same feeble flight of Azerbaijan and the losses came. Torreira turned from conductor to off-beat percussionist, laboured by Sissoko’s incessant bullying presence - the Uruguayan dispossessed more than any other player in the first half. The risks of Arsenal's offensive formation left them overrun as Spurs penetrated the abandoned spaces and were allowed to score both of their goals in quick succession - first after Shkodran Mustafi panicked into conceding a needless free-kick, which result in Erik Dier’s equaliser, and then Rob Holding’s reckless slide tackle on Son as he attempted to recover lost ground, resulting in Kane’s converted penalty.

But unlike in Azerbaijan, as Arsenal went in at half-time a goal down, Emery didn’t bear his losses and leave. Instead, the Arsenal manager doubled down, keeping to that same formation and introducing Alexandre Lacazette up front as well as Aaron Ramsey on the wing. And in a helter-skelter match Arsenal regained that same free flow of their first stanza, another hurtling breakaway eventually resulting in Aubameyang’s brilliantly taken equaliser.

And, only then, did Emery play his last tactical joker, bringing on Matteo Guendouzi in place of Shkodran Mustafi, reverting to his usual formation, as Arsenal attempted to suffocate Spurs in the centre of the pitch. A perpetual look of worry etched into Emery's as he mulled from the sideline, knowing all his chips were on the table. And as Lacazette and Torreira seized on possession in the final third, in that space he’d sought to strangle, he stood stoneless as his gamble was vindicated.

Because of course, to Emery, this was never a blind bet. This was a move conjured behind science goggles in his lab of mind-numbing analysis and introspection. The stare of a man fleecing the house, watching as Spurs became lost in his field of statistical calculations and then their own carnage. The greatest win of his Arsenal career forged not from a risk, but a Rainman moment.