Arsenal win North London derby

✳ ⚽  Spurs 0 Arsenal 2

⚽  Man Utd 2  Man City 1
⚽  Brighton 3 Liverpool 0
⚽  Everton 1 Southampton 2
⚽  Nott’m Forest 2  Leicester 0
⚽  Wolves 1  West Ham 0

London, UK | ARSENAL.COM | A superb first-half display saw Arsenal record a first league double over Tottenham Hotspur since 2013/14 and more importantly move them eight points clear at the top of the Premier League.

Things started perfectly when a bizarre own goal from Hugo Lloris put Arsenal  in front after just 14 minutes, and that lead was doubled on 36 minutes when Martin Odegaard fired in from long-range.

Arsenal required some fine stops from Aaron Ramsdale to keep the lead intact on either side of the break, but his heroics between the posts ensured the Gunners claimed a first victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at the fourth attempt, and a first success in the league at Spurs since 2014.

Taking the lead

The first half was one that Gooners around the world would have savoured as Arsenal enjoyed complete domination over their rivals, with the majority of the first 45 played in and around their box.

Eddie Nketiah had a good early chance when Gabriel Martinelli pressured Hugo Lloris into a poor clearance and the ball was clipped back into the striker, who watched it come down onto his foot before striking but the Spurs keeper made the block.

However the Frenchman wouldn’t be so lucky on 14 minutes. A long ball from Thomas Partey released Bukayo Saka down the right, but when he got into the box the angle was tight. That meant his cross-shot should have been easily collected by Lloris, but instead he inexplicably fumbled it beyond his own goalline to hand us the lead.

Three minutes later, that was in jeopardy when Ramsdale was forced to produce the first of his excellent saves when he used his feet to deny Heung-min Son after he was slipped in, but Arsenal kept pressing for a second and Lloris made a more positive contribution when he did well to push away a long-range effort from Odegaard.

Skipper adds the second

He was left clutching thin air soon after when Partey smashed a volley from around 25 yards with tremendous power, which fizzed towards the top corner but the post denied one of the great derby day goals.

A two-goal lead wouldn’t have flattered Arsenal at that point, and eventually it arrived on 36 minutes. As he had too often in the opening half, Odegaard was given too much time and space to get a shot off, and his drive from outside the box flew into the bottom corner to net his eighth goal of the season.

Arsenal  were indebted to Ramsdale again though in first-half stoppage time when on a rare foray forward, Harry Kane saw a clever header spin towards goal but his England international colleague showed great reactions to push it away and maintain our healthy lead going into the break.

Ramsdale to the rescue

Unsurprisingly, Antonio Conte’s team came out fired up and began causing Arsenal much more problems, and Kane again tested their number one when he turned and fired goalwards, forcing Ramsdale into flying stop.

Two minutes later he was called into action again when Ryan Sessegnon scampered down the left and got into a shooting position but Ramsdale got a toe to his effort which was enough to deflect it past his far post, and Dejan Kulusevski bent a shot just wide as the hosts pressed hard to get back into the contest.

With Arsenal in control of the scoreline, they didn’t venture forward as much as in the opening half but there was a great chance for them to put extra gloss on the win when Nketiah was put through one-on-one by Granit Xhaka but Lloris made himself big to smother the chance, but two goals were enough to ensure the north London bragging rights remained with all Gooners.

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SOURCE: Arsenal.com