Premier League: London Derby Delight For Gunners

Arsenal 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur

A second-half penalty converted by Alexandre Lacazette gave Arsenal all three points in a pulsating North London derby.

Premier League: Arsenal vs Spurs is all about the bragging rights in North London, and Mikel Arteta’s side deserved this victory, though a late rally from Tottenham shredded some nerves. After Erik Lamela put Spurs ahead against the run of play Martin Odegaard equalised just before the break before Lacazette struck the vital blow.

The Arsenal vs Spurs betting odds predicted a hard-fought game and it was certainly that, Lamela getting his marching orders as he lost his discipline late in the game, and there was drama to the final whistle as Harry Kane had a goal disallowed and then hit the post.

 

Highlights of the game

Arsenal bossed the opening stages as young forward Emile Smith-Rowe ran the Spurs defence ragged from the off, and he was inches away from scoring his first-ever Premier League goal when he fired a brilliant shot from 25 yards beyond Hugo Lloris only to see it bounce back off the crossbar.

Then Smith-Rowe flew down the left-wing and pulled a ball back for Alexandre Lacazette who fired wide as Tottenham seemed happy just to soak up the Arsenal pressure. Gareth Bale and Harry Kane were outstanding in Spurs’ 4-1 destruction of Crystal Palace last week but they were anonymous in the opening half-hour. But the visitors went ahead, totally against the run of play and it was Erik Lamela the scorer, shortly after he came on for the injured Heung-Min Son.

Sergio Reguillon crossed a low ball into the penalty area and Lucas Moura pushed it back to Lamela who did the rest, sliding a low shot with the outside of his boot, through a forest of legs and into the bottom right corner.

Arsenal tried to hit back immediately and it was Smith-Rowe again leaving Matt Doherty in his wake before pulling the ball back, Lacazette left it for Cedric and his shot cannoned off the right post with Lloris beaten. But the Gunners got their equaliser on the stroke of half time with a bit of deserved luck. This time is was Kieran Tierney giving Doherty a hard time and he squared for Martin Odegaard whose low shot took a deflection to beat Lloris.

Having gone a goal down the Gunners turned things around midway through the second half. Lacazette was sent through on goal by Nicolas Pepe and took a wild swing at his shot which screwed wide but he was clattered by Davinson Sanchez in the aftermath. Referee Michael Oliver pouted to the spot; Lacazette climbed to his feet and planted the spot-kick low into the bottom right corner for his tenth league goal of the season.

Going behind seemed to spark Spurs into life and they had a second effort on goal on 70 minutes when Lamela planted a header into the hands of Bernd Leno. But then the Argentine, who had given his team the lead with a sublime finish, self-combusted. First he wiped out Thomas Partey to receive a yellow card, and then he turned it red minutes later when he waved an arm into Tierney’s face.

Kane had his first sniff of goal on 82 minutes when he headed a free-kick, delivered by Lucas Moura, into the bottom corner, but the England man was marginally offside. Then the Spurs skipper almost saved a point with a free-kick shot which he hit, true and low, against the upright and Sanchez’ follow up effort was blocked by Gabriel.

 

Key statistics

At SBOTOP odds of 2.46 the hosts were marginal favourites and with the bulk of possession and 13 shots to Spurs’ five, they deserved the three points.

The Arsenal vs Spurs highlights tell a story of Arsenal domination in the first half and a sucker punch with a brilliant finish from Lamela. But the Gunners fought back to win and then withstood a late Spurs onslaught to end their rivals’ five-match winning run.

Tottenham stay seventh and Arsenal tenth, but the gap between the two teams is reduced to four points.

 

What’s next?

The Gunners have a busy week ahead. On Thursday they have a second leg UEFA League tie against Olympiakos to contend with. They are nicely in control having won the first leg, in Greece, 3-1.

Then they have another London derby to look forward to next weekend against high-flying West Ham. The Hammers are this season’s surprise package and are contenders for a European place, maybe even in the Champions League.

Spurs too are in Europa League action, away to Dinamo Zagreb and hoping to protect a two-goal lead following Harry Kane’s double in the first leg. And they follow that up with a testing fixture away to Aston Villa. Dean Smith’s Villains have hopes of a European push themselves, but they may struggle if they can’t keep their talisman Jack Grealish fit.

 

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