“It’s nice. It’s exactly like last season and this is maybe the most exciting time to be a footballer,” Haaland said.
“This is why I play football. This feeling before a game, you’re nervous, it’s fantastic. I love football exactly for these feelings.”
The north London derby never disappoints, and yet this match was a little different to anything we’ve seen before.
Historically it’s a fixture in constant flux, pulled one way and then the other in a relentless power struggle. It’s breathless, wild and always seems to end 2-2.
But on Sunday, Arsenal were cruising with an hour on the clock only to find themselves desperately holding on in the final minutes.
Arsenal didn’t exactly do anything spectacular to go 3-0 up, going into half-time with a lower Expected Goals (xG) tally than their hosts, with 0.7 to 0.85.
Spurs didn’t do very much to get back to 3-2, creating little and benefiting from two unforced Arsenal errors.
Nevertheless it gave us a tense and memorable ending.
More importantly, it gave Arsenal a victory that felt resilient and hard-earned, even if it ought to have been a lot less stressful for Mikel Arteta.