Tottenham signing dazzles on a quiet debut for Viktor Gyokeres, Arsenal are faced with a preseason worry – and there’s a new set-piece king in town: THINGS WE LEARNED from Spurs’ 1-0 win over their rivals in Hong Kong

Tottenham claimed pre-season bragging rights over their bitter north London rivals with a 1-0 win in Hong Kong.

Despite both sides creating chances, the match looked set to reach half-time goalless before a moment of magic from Pape Matar Sarr.

The 22-year-old netted a stunning effort from 45 yards to catch David Raya off his line and put Thomas Frank‘s side into the lead.

The Gunners pushed for an equaliser following the restart but even the first glimpse of Viktor Gyokeres in an Arsenal shirt following his high-profile move wasn’t enough to get them back into the game.

Just days after being unveiled to Gunners fans, the Swedish striker had a quiet afternoon after coming off the bench as Spurs held on to secure victory.

NICK CALLOW analysed the game to bring you the seven things we learned from the first north London derby to be staged outside of the UK.

The Senegalese midfielder opened the scoring by chipping David Raya on the brink of half time

Sarr from the halfway line

Arsenal wanted tests and not friendlies in all of their matches here. They will not have been disappointed as both sets of players got stuck in. 

Indeed, it was a surprise that there was only one first-half yellow card, for Rodrigo Bentancur for a revenge foul on Bukayo Saka. 

Arsenal were not impressed with Hong Kong referee Lau Fong Hei, who missed a sneaky trip from behind on the rapidly breaking Myles Lewis-Skelly which allowed Sarr the time and space to shoot and score a cracker from inside the centre circle.

It was made worse when the foul and goal were replayed on the big screen as Sarr ran to celebrate his brilliant strike – and third goal in three games – in front of the Arsenal supporters and an embarrassed Arsenal keeper David Raya, once again caught off his line. 

Gunners’ injury concerns

Still no sign of Gabriel in the Arsenal squad as he battles back from hamstring surgery in April. Arsenal have two more pre-season matches to get him fit to face Manchester United on 17 August. It’s a worry. 

In other defensive concerns, Jurrien Timber has not resumed full training this summer and Richy Calafiori is nursing yet another ‘niggle’. 

Of worry for Tottenham was Dominic Solanke’s absence – again. The star Spurs striker started against Reading earlier this month but missed the following matches against Wycombe and Luton.

He did train here on Tuesday night but was not even on the bench against Arsenal. He will hope to play a part in Sunday’s match against Newcastle United, in Korea.

Gabriel was left out of the Arsenal squad as he continues his recovery from a hamstring injury

Fans get behind debuting Gyokeres 

The biggest cheers of the night came for two substitutes: Arsenal’s Viktor Gyokeres and Tottenham’s Son Heung-min. 

This was the Swedish striker’s debut and there were more than a few Gunners fans at the stadium sporting the new red and and white kit with his name and the iconic No14 on the back. The hype is real. 

’Sonny’ was the player all local Spurs fans wanted to see so the fact he started as a sub might indicate he will start in Korea at the weekend. Both came on with 15 minutes to go at a time when Spurs were hanging on and Arsenal were struggling to turn their possession into shots on target. 

Neither made much of an impact after all that!

Viktor Gyokeres received a warm ovation from the fans in attendance but struggled to make an impact on the game after coming on as a sub  

Packed house in Hong Kong

Arsenal played in front of relatively small crowds against AC Milan and Newcastle in Singapore, but this was a 50,000 sell-out in Hong Kong. 

Both clubs reportedly received a £2m fee just for this match, with promotional fees on top. 

Overall, both clubs will have travelled over 15,000 miles by the time they get back to north London, and both can hope to have netted well in excess of £10m with future even more lucrative commercial deals also now in the pipeline.

A sold out crowd of more than 50,000 at the Kai Tak Stadium greeted the teams in Hong Kong

Georgson works his magic 

Tottenham finally have a set-piece coach in former Arsenal man Andreas Georgson and instantly looked the better for it. 

They successfully fended off two new-look Arsenal corners early on and hit a post from their first dead ball. In a move that seemed to mirror Arsenal’s successful tactics of last season, they packed the far post and Pedro Porro curled it that way, with an effort then coming off the woodwork. 

Raya also looked panicked at the next one, which also hit a post. Maybe Ange Postecoglou should have taken a leaf out of Arsenal’s coaching manual too.

Set-piece coach Andreas Georgson (right) appears to have already made an impact since arriving at Tottenham

Havertz has a point to prove

Fit again Arsenal forward Kai Havertz perhaps has the most to fear following the signing of Gyokeres. 

He finished last season injured but still as their leading scorer on nine Premier League goals and 15 overall. That might not cut it now Arteta has a proper goal-scoring alternative. 

Havertz battled away and led the line well but his shooting was not overly impressive before he was subbed for Big Vik. The Super Swede had one missed glancing header and did not get to have a single shot on goal in his 15 minute debut.

Kai Havertz produced an industrious, albeit unproductive, performance leading the line for the Gunners

Kudos for Kudus

Tottenham’s star midfield signing, Mohammed Kudus, already looks made for this Thomas Frank side. 

The Ghana international offers a threat lacking in the Tottenham squad of last season and pressed as well as he got forward. Tottenham’s pressing all round was well coordinated, supported by a generally resilient defensive performance. 

If Frank can consistently make them tighter at the back, pose more of a threat going forward than they did in this match and be generally more robust, they could be in for a better season than last. 

They look harder to beat at least.