Tottenham went into this North London Derby on the back of two successive defeats at Burnley and Chelsea. A win for Arsenal would see them cut the gap between them and Tottenham to just one point.
The pressure was all on Spurs going into this match and Arsenal had the chance to add more misery onto their rivals.
Pressure Shows as Spurs Gift Arsenal Lead
It was a deafening atmosphere at Wembley Stadium with the Spurs fans knowing they must do their part to get the team back to winning ways. It was a lively start to the game with a half chance for Alexander Lacazette coming to nothing and Spurs nearly forging an opening, but Kieran Trippier’s cross was dealt with by the Arsenal back four. Henrikh Mkhitaryan jinked past three Spurs players but elected to pass when a shot was the favourable option. Spurs were playing with both Trippier and Danny Rose high up the pitch and Arsenal looked to push their front line on. There was a nervous movement for the Wembley crowd when Harry Kane went down and took a little time to get back to his feet, but the striker was okay and continued playing.
On 15 minutes Tottenham once again hit the self destruct button. Under no pressure, Davinson Sanchez inexplicably headed the ball into the ground. Arsenal took advantage and Aaron Ramsey was granted the freedom of Wembley Stadium. Still with work to do, he went round Hugo Lloris and slotted home to give Arsenal the lead. Tottenham, as against Burnley and Chelsea, were looking sluggish, lacking in quality and passing to anyone but each other. The nervousness was transmitted to the crowd and Spurs just could not get going at all.
Offside Drama
Tottenham thought they were back in the tie nearly ten minutes after going behind. Alderweireld delivered a great free-kick which Kane headed home but he had strayed offside. At last Spurs looked to be getting into this North London Derby. Heung Min Son tried to wriggle through the Arsenal defence but was stopped by a wall of three red shirts. Son started to float more and the pace from Tottenham was increasing without creating anything clear cut in the final third. When Mauricio Pochettino’s men did get forward, it was mainly through Kieran Trippier but the final ball was just not good enough.
Alex Iwobi worked Hugo Lloris in the 41st minute and the red half of North London were counter-attacking at every opportunity. The Tottenham defence was looking low on confidence and struggling for coherent communication.
The Spirit of Gordon Banks
Spurs best chance finally came with half time approaching. Christian Eriksen, ineffective until now, was played in by Kane but Bernd Leno defied the Dane from close range. The ball bounced back to Moussa Sissoko who thought he had scored but Leno somehow sprang up and tipped the ball over the crossbar producing quite simply, a stunning save. Pochettino was down the tunnel before the half time whistle was blown looking unhappy with what he had seen in the first 45 minutes. His side were predictable and struggling to show any creativity. This was going to be one of the Argentine’s biggest half time team talks since becoming manager.
Too Much Reliance on Kane
Tottenham have done well without their main man, but when he does play, everyone seems to look to him all of the time. It almost starves the other players of any ingenuity. It was Kane who started the second half strongly holding off several Arsenal players before playing a lovely pass to Kieran Trippier on the right wing. Trippier hit the ball hard, high and out of play. The right-back was having another bad day at the office. The home fans were getting twitchy and the nerves could be felt around the ground.
Penalty Chaos
Of course it was Kane that got Spurs back into the match. A free kick was floated in and Harry Kane was bundled over. Referee Anthony Taylor had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Spurs got the rub of the green as Kane was offside. He didn’t worry about that as he leveled the match very much against the run of play.
20 Minutes Left and the North London Derby Finally Turns Up
Once Kane had leveled, suddenly the game increased in intensity. Arsenal started to push further forward and the home crowd were willing their team on. Yet for all the bluster there were very few really exciting moments. The whole Spurs’ performance felt very flat indeed.
As the game headed into stoppage time, Davinson Sanchez was harshly adjudged to have bundled over Aubamayang and Taylor pointed to the spot. It was Aubamayang who stood up to take the penalty but his penalty was poor and Lloris saved. Jan Vertonghen then blocked the follow up high and over the bar in spectacular fashion. There was then time for a red card as well as Lucas Torreria went in high on Danny Rose and Anthony Taylor issued his first red card of the season.
Arsenal remain four points behind Spurs with neither side benefitting from this North London Derby draw. Tottenham at least stopped their losing run from getting worse and now head to Germany to defend a 3-0 lead over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
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