Theo Walcott claims Arsenal ‘played almost like a Jose Mourinho side’ in north London derby victory over Tottenham

Theo Walcott noted that Arsenal ‘almost played like a José Mourinho team’ in keeping Tottenham at bay in the closing stages of Sunday’s North London derby against Tottenham.

Gabriel scored the only goal of the game with a header in the 64th minute, again exposing Tottenham’s weaknesses.

However, Mikel Arteta’s side gave away the lion’s share of possession as Tottenham had 64 percent of the ball throughout the match.

The Gunners’ possession stats dropped significantly after Gabriel’s goal, to just 32.2 percent, underlining the need to persevere and hold off waves of desperate Tottenham attacks.

Walcott, who made almost 400 appearances for Arsenal during his 11-year spell, immediately saw similarities between the style of his former club and the legendary Portuguese manager.

Gunners legend Theo Walcott compared Arsenal’s line-up to that of a team led by José Mourinho

Mourinho has drilled his teams well and can function for long periods without the ball

“It doesn’t matter how they achieved it, it was a great result for Arsenal,” Walcott told Match of the Day.

‘They showed once again that they know how to tackle things, because they played almost like a José Mourinho team until the end of the match.’

Walcott also noted that Arsenal adopted a similar mentality during their trip to the Etihad Stadium last season, when they drew 0-0 with Manchester City.

Even though it was not an entertaining match, Walcott realised that Arteta’s team might not have achieved the same result if they had been ‘more adventurous’ in their style of play.

What made the result even more impressive was that Arteta was without two of his starting midfielders, Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard, who missed the derby through suspension and injury respectively.

Despite the loss of the duo, Walcott felt Arteta’s defensive formation was so well entrenched in his team that it didn’t matter who replaced them.

“It was exactly the same here (as at Manchester City), even though they had some key players on the pitch, they are so well drilled and structured that they showed that it doesn’t really matter who is playing because they are all drilled the same way defensively,” Walcott said.

“It comes down to the work they do on the training ground. I was lucky enough to watch them in pre-season and the amount of coaching staff involved in each session is incredible.

Arsenal conceded the battle for possession but were rarely troubled by Tottenham’s attacks

Arteta welcomes back Declan Rice for Sunday’s away match against Manchester City

‘It makes the players’ lives so much easier when there is so much detail and when coaches are literally there for each individual player.

‘As a team, they get the same message every day, so I’m no longer surprised when they achieve such a result.’

Arsenal may need to re-evaluate the Mourinho style Walcott referred to on Sunday when they take on City at the Etihad Stadium.

However, Arteta can still call on Rice as his suspension was only one match.

But before the Gunners turn their attention to City, they travel to Bergamo to take on Atalanta in their first Champions League match on Thursday.