Arsenal happy to win ugly but they must stop teams targeting Tavares

Midway through the first half of an utterly forgettable London derby, Nuno Tavares picked up the ball near the halfway line and set off on an adventure. Suddenly, it seemed something special was happening. A brief surge of energy went round the ground. Then Tavares ran out of steam, realised that he had no idea what to do next and basically let the ball run away from his feet.

Still, on he went, Arsenal’s second-choice left-back a blur of yellow as he continued to run in a straight line, his momentum taking him all the way into West Ham’s area and giving him an excellent view of Lukasz Fabianski booting the ball away.

At which point it became clear that a gaping hole had appeared on the Arsenal left. Nothing came from it but it was a problem for Mikel Arteta’s team. West Ham were repeatedly finding space down that flank, repeatedly running through the same passing sequences to send Vladimir Coufal away, and it was not much of a surprise that Tavares was caught out eventually, the Portuguese’s positioning all over the place when Jarrod Bowen cancelled out Arsenal’s lead on the stroke of half-time.

At least it made little difference to the final outcome. This was not a memorable display from Arsenal, who played in a daze at times and occasionally seemed intent on handing the initiative to Tottenham in the race to finish fourth, but it was enough for Arteta.

“In England you say win ugly,” Arsenal’s manager said. “But I am extremely happy to see a team win ugly.” Arteta had a point. There is a hardier feel to this version of Arsenal: goals from set-pieces, more sturdiness, an unashamed willingness to run down the clock.

Whisper it, but are they growing up? Is Arteta actually José Mourinho in disguise? Is he soon to be found