Tottenham looked like they were well on their way to ending a two game Premier League winless streak in their biggest game of the season thus far. However the Spurs managed to choke away a two goal lead coming away with a single point and a 2-2 draw against bitter rival Arsenal in the North London derby from Emerates Stadium.
Both defenses didn’t particularly put together a solid full 90′ and Sunday’s match was really a tale of two different halves for both squads.
In the first, Christian Eriksen got the Spurs on the board first in the 10′ after a defensive breakdown by the Gunners and mishap handling the initial save by Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno.
Tottenham added a second tally when Harry Kane converted a penalty after Arsenal captain Granit Xhaka took down Son Heung-min in the box.
However in stoppage time the Gunners got a much needed boost as Alexandre Lacazette fired a missile past Hugo Lloris to send Arsenal into the half with a much more manageable 2-1 deficit.
The Gunners seemed to have managed to take their late first-half momentum into the second half as they tightened up defensively and dominated the Spurs for the most part. That dominance ended up paying off in the 70′ minute when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netted the equalizer.
Both teams also had what looked to be the go-ahead opportunities first when Sokratis Papastathopoulos appeared to net Arsenal’s third goal of the game late in the second half. VAR determined that Sead Kolasanic was offsides.
Not long after that, Harry Kane appeared to be taken down in the box and argued his case for a second penalty of the match. However, the Tottenham striker’s pleading went on deaf ears as the ref awarded no penalty and play continued.
📝 Game Notes
- Sunday was the first time the Arsenal deployed their top guns to start a match in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Nicolas Pepe, and Alexandre Lacazette. They played for a full 67 minutes together before Lacazette was subbed out in the second half.
- Harry Kane is now the all-time leading scorer in the North London derby after his penalty tally gave him 10 total goals against the Gunners.