Post-Match Report

Arsenal 4-2 Tottenham: How it happened

Aubameyang goal

Tottenham Hotspur -

Emirates Stadium
Premier League
Premier League
  Arsenal
      
                  P. Aubameyang (10 pen
                   56)
                   Lacazette (75)
                   L. Torreira (77)
            
   crest
Arsenal
P. Aubameyang (10 pen
56)
Lacazette (75)
L. Torreira (77)
4 2
  Tottenham Hotspur
      
              E. Dier (30)
               H. Kane (34 pen)
          
   crest
Tottenham Hotspur
E. Dier (30) H. Kane (34 pen)

WHAT HAPPENED

We came from behind to complete a stunning turnaround victory in the north London derby.

It was no less than we deserved, making most of the running, creating the better chances, and looking dangerous for the majority of this pulsating encounter, save for a damaging five-minute period in the first half. 

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave us the lead from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, but the game turned against us with two controversial Spurs goals on the half-hour mark.

Once again we showed tremendous character to bounce back in the second half, levelling with another superb finish from Aubameyang. From then on we took control again. Half-time substitutes Aaron Ramsey and Alexandre Lacazette combined for the third goal and three minutes later Lucas Torreira scored his first for the club to seal a memorable victory.

Lucas Torreira

Unai Emery selected an unchanged XI from our last Premier League game for his first ever north London derby, and we penned back Tottenham from the whistle, starting with an intensity that has often been lacking in the first half of games this season.

Aubameyang headed over from a Henrikh Mkhitaryan cross in the opening 10 minutes before he stroked home his penalty, given for handball against Jan Vertonghen.

We were good value for the lead, and Alex Iwobi could well have doubled our advantage when he got on the end of Sead Kolasinac's cutback. His fierce shot was goalbound, but Hugo Lloris got down well to save.

Tottenham's best chances in the first half hour fell to Heung-min Son, who was kept out twice at the near post by Bernd Leno.

We were seemingly in charge of the game until two goals in four minutes turned the game around. First Eric Dier glanced home a free-kick at the near post, sparking a scuffle with the subs when he celebrated in front of the Arsenal fans. Dier was booked by referee Mike Dean.

Once the game eventually restarted, Son raced through on goal, and referee Dean adjudged he was brought down by Rob Holding, even though contact looked minimal. Harry Kane tucked home the spot-kick.

The turnaround came out of nowhere, and completely disrupted our rhythm. The game had an extra edge now, triggered by the scenes following Dier's celebration and Son's elaborate fall for the penalty.

We slowly began to rebuild though, and Shkodran Mustafi hit the bar with a looping header just before the interval.

Emery introduced Lacazette and Ramsey at half-time, but for a while we struggled to reproduce the intensity of the first half hour.

That was until Aubameyang's blistering shot brought us level. just before the hour. Ramsey managed to divert the ball into his path on the edge of the box, the striker unleashed an unstoppable drive past Lloris for his 12th goal of the season.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

It breathed new life into our attack. Mustafi had a shot charged down from close range and Torreira's follow up flew just over. Sokratis then headed over but Spurs were nearly gifted a goal from Bellerin's loose pass across the box. Leno leapt away to his right to keep out the shot.

It proved to be nothing more than a blip, as we secured the points with two goals in quick succession.

First Aaron Ramsey's quick-thinking set up Lacazette with a long pass. The striker's low shot from 20 yards looked to lack pace, but the placement was perfect, and it found its way into the bottom corner.

The Emirates sound levels reached new levels just moments later when Torriera streaked away, finishing well at the near post to make it 4-2.

Tottenham's Vertonghen was sent off late on for a lunge on Lacazette, to compound the visitors' misery, but today was all about Arsenal - making it 19 games without defeat in stunning fashion.

Alexandre Lacazette goal

HOW IT HAPPENED

Click here to relive the key moments from a cracking north London derby

WHAT IT MEANS

Premier league table

The Premier League table following the full-time whistle at Emirates Stadium

WHAT'S NEXT

The big Premier League games keep coming, we travel to Manchester on Wednesday to take on United at Old Trafford, then return to Emirates Stadium on Saturday to face Huddersfield in a 3pm kick off. 

ANALYSIS

Read our in-depth analysis of the game and the four key points right here

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Fixtures & Results

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