Cannons fire from the rear to bring Gunners derby glory

Arsenal 4 : 2 Tottenham

Arsenal recorded a memorable win over Tottenham in the North London derby. Six goals, two penalties, a red card and two come from behind leads illuminated a calm but wintery night in the Borough of Islington as these two old rivals duked it out.

In the end, two goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, one from Alexandre Lacazette and Lucas Torreira’s first for the club canceled out Eric Dier’s header and a Harry Kane penalty, which had given Tottenham a 2-1 half time lead.

The Gunners have now overtaken Spurs for the first time this season and the race is really on between the three London clubs for two Champions League places, if Liverpool cannot be caught for second.

Coming into the game, Spurs had won just one of their last 25 away Premier League matches against Arsenal, with ten of those drawn. That win was a 3-2 victory in November 2010. They had only won once in their 15 visits to the Emirates.

Jan Vertonghen returned at the back for the visitors for his first game in two months, while Aubameyang was selected by Unai Emery ahead of Lacazette. Those two players were at the heart of the game’s first decisive action in the opening ten minutes.

Like Chelsea earlier, Arsenal went ahead early after Vertonghen pointlessly raised his hand to touch the ball away at a free-kick while trying to mark Shkodran Mustafi. Aubameyang converted the penalty correctly awarded by Mike Dean.

Aubameyang should have made it two shortly after, when his balance and position were all wrong inside the six yard box, although the pressure from Spurs’ Argentinian defender Juan Foyth certainly was part of his inability to finish cleanly.

Alex Iwobi missed a chance to double the lead as the swaggering Gunners dominated their hesitant opponents.

Bernd Leno was forced to make a save from Son down at his right hand post on 22′ as Spurs began to doggedly gnaw their way back into the match. They deserved the equaliser on the half hour.

Jan Vertonghen handles the ball to give Arsenal an early penalty
Photo: Premier League

Dier glanced in a header from a Christian Eriksen free kick but Leno should have surely done better than flop, flap and fall into the back of his own net after the ball.

Mike Dean was once more at the centre of the attention a minute later when he awarded a penalty to Tottenham for a Rob Holding foul on Son. It was a minimal touch and a foolish tackle, but it was again the correct call by Dean.

Harry Kane converted and suddenly from the dead, they led. And they held that lead to half time, even though Hugo Lloris had to arch his back to push a Mustafi header onto the bar without too much difficulty.

Arsenal boss Emery made two halftime changes, bringing on Aaron Ramsey and Lacazette for Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Iwobi.

Leno made a great save when Kane chose to shoot straight from a set piece, perhaps making the save look easier than it was with his sound positioning, but Arsenal’s German born Bosnian international defender Sead Kolasinac was lucky not to have been penalised for his attempt to control Foyth by the neck. Although it would have taken a brave referee to have awarded the game’s third penalty.

Arsenal’s best moment was yet to come. Ramsey flicked the ball beautifully to Aubameyang from a pass from inside the Arsenal half. The Gabonese finished superbly to level the match, a goal that Arsenal on the balance of their post interval efforts deserved.

Dele Alli had to clear a Torreira effort off his line with Lloris beaten as Arsenal pressed to retake the lead they had once held. He became the fifth man booked shortly afterwards. Leno comfortably saved a long range effort from Son as Spurs looked to hit back with 1/4 of the game to go.

Lacazette scored that go ahead goal for the Gunners and it seemed to happen in slow motion. Foyth was way to casual and was easily robbed by Ramsey. He found Lacazette who was given far too much time to manouevre into the position he desired to shoot. When he did, it slid fatally and agonisingly into the corner of Lloris’ net.

Seconds later, Torreira scored his first goal in English football into the same corner, after wrong footing Dier when running onto an Aubameyang pass.

Spurs celebrate their equaliser at the Emirates
Photo: Premier League

At 4-2 with ten minutes to go, it was party time for the home fans at the Emirates. Pochettino brought on Ben Davies, Harry Winks and Lucas Moura for Alli, Ben Davies and Son.

Vertonghen was sent off for his second yellow with six minutes to go, for a nasty lunge on Lacazette on a day he will want to forget.

It may well be a day that most Spurs fans want to forget. They had this game at half time and lost the second half 3-0. Arsenal are now fourth and have established themselves as a real challenger for a Champions League place.

For Spurs and Pochettino one feels, the transfer window cannot come soon enough but they are far from out of the race for the top four even though today will hurt more than the loss of three points.

Arsenal: Leno, Bellerin, Sokratis, Holding, Mustafi (Guendouzi 71′), Kolasinac, Xhaka, Iwobi (Lacazette 45′) , Torreira, Mkhitaryan (Ramsey 45′), Aubameyang

Subs: Cech, Lichtsteiner, Maitland-Niles, Elneny,

Tottenham: Lloris, Aurier, Vertonghen, Foyth, Davies (Rose 82′) , Dier, Alli (Winks, 79′), Sissoko, Eriksen, Son (Moura 79′), Kane

Subs: Gazzaniga, Alderweireld, Rose, Walker-Peters,  Llorente.