Postecoglou saw his side's UCL hopes take a hit with North London derby defeat

Ange Postecoglou had warned Tottenham of the dangers of hanging their noses over the garden fence and becoming obsessed with what the neighbours are building.

‘You could both have the worst houses in the street,’ he said ahead of the north London derby, but Postecoglou will realise there is plenty to admire about what Arsenal have designed.

And, as they danced and sang in the sunshine in front of the away end, it was hard to escape a feeling there might even be lessons Spurs can take if they study the transformation of their closest rivals during four years under Mikel Arteta.

The real danger, in fact, would be to ignore them. To write off a three-goal half-time deficit as bad luck, with marginal decisions going against them during those five minutes — from Micky van de Ven’s goal ruled out for offside to the hopeful penalty claims and Bukayo Saka’s goal on the break to make it 2-0 to Arsenal.

True, it was a pivotal passage of the game. Tottenham were on top at the time, having summoned a positive response to conceding first again. They thought they had scored an equaliser, only to be deflated, but the contest had fallen into the pattern Arteta might have predicted.

Arsenal were ahead, looking dangerous from set-pieces and on the counter-attack, inviting Spurs to take risks and over-commit while remaining disciplined and compact themselves.

They came with a shield of four central defenders, screened by Thomas Partey and often assisted by Declan Rice, and for most of the game did an admirable job of protecting their goalkeeper.

Tottenham’s most creative forces were denied the space they craved. Son Heung-min did not get a sniff until a chance on the stroke of half-time, by which point his team were three down.

There were early