Tottenham 2-3 Arsenal: Gunners hold off late onslaught for nervy but vital north London derby win

Gunners push clear of Man City after beating local rivals
Marc Mayo28 April 2024

Tottenham almost produced a famous comeback to snatch a point against Arsenal, having collapsed in dramatic fashion to lose Sunday’s north London derby.

A Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg own goal was followed by Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz’s first-half goals before Cristian Romero and Heung-min Son scored after the break in the Gunners’ 3-2 win.

A raucous home crowd roared their team on knowing that a place in the top four was still in their own hands along with the possible derby delight of depriving Arsenal in their Premier League title bid.

But the Gunners weathered the storm and led after 15 minutes when a dangerous corner was headed home by Hojbjerg at the near post after he was expertly marshalled by Takehiro Tomiyasu.

Romero nearly levelled up instantly, heading wide from a corner before meeting a free-kick with another header which smacked against the woodwork.

Tottenham then saw Micky van de Ven’s equaliser chalked off by VAR, after Pedro Porro’s long-range shot had deflected the offside Dutchman’s way.

Arsenal made their hosts pay on 27 minutes when Saka raced onto Havertz’s lob over the top, before turning Ben Davies inside out and slotting home on his left foot. Not since Ian Wright in 1993-94 had an Arsenal player scored both home and away in the derby in a single season.

The game was as good as over before half-time as another corner, this time from the visitors’ left wing, was nodded home by Havertz to increase their league-leading tally of headed goals to 17 and from corners to 16.

Knowing Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs, there was little sense the scoring was done at the restart and Romero sent another header off-target despite David Raya unnecessarily vacating his goalline. Up the other end, Guglielmo Vicario finally got something on an Arsenal effort to deny Saka’s powerful volley with his feet.

That goal finally came with just over 20 minutes remaining when Raya’s horrific ball out from the back was pounced on by Romero for a simple finish into the bottom corner.

Arsenal still looked in control until Declan Rice’s needless foul on Davies five minutes from time allowed Son to score from the spot.

However, Spurs failed to truly test Raya in a late push to win a memorable point and Arsenal were the ones to claim a famous derby win.

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