Arsenal 2 Tottenham 2
Both sides went into this North London derby looking to extend their unbeaten starts to the season. Things were looking positive under new manager Ange Postecoglou, despite the departure of talisman Harry Kane to Bayern Munich.
David Raya started in between the sticks for Arsenal again, much to the displeasure of Aaron Ramsdale who is seemingly well out of favour now with manager Mikel Arteta. Tottenham have had less away wins in North London than the Luftwaffe.
Arsenal created the first chance of the game as Jesus shot from a tight angle to bring a smart save out of Vicario. As a Tottenham attack broke down, The Gunners countered and Saka picked the ball up on the right. He predictably cut inside onto his left foot and shot with the ball deflecting off Romero’s knee and into the back of the net.
Maddison was then caught dwelling on the ball right in front of the goal, having his pocket picked by Jesus who unbelievably smashed the ball over the crossbar. This is why the striker is never going to get the goal tally to take this side to major honours.
Credit: @premierleague
Tottenham created an opening as Son fed Kulusevski out wide who returned the favour before the Spurs’ skipper cut it back from the byline to Brenan Johnson who drew a world class save from David Raya to keep it out.
He then went from hero to zero when he flapped at a Sarr cross a la David James before Maddison picked the ball up, dropped the shoulder and lost his man and cut it back for Son to slot the ball home.
Declan Rice came off at half time with a back injury and was replaced by Jorginho. As far as changes go, that is like dumping Margot Robbie and getting together with one of the Dingles from Emmerdale.
Early on in the second half, a Saka corner was seized upon by Ben White and as he turned and shot, the ball seemingly struck Romero’s hand. The referee was not interested but VAR asked him to go and have a look at the monitor. He reversed his decision and awarded a penalty.
Saka stepped up to take it and drilled his effort straight down the middle of the goal to make it two-one. He then rather cheekily celebrated with James Maddison’s darts celebration. Top class shit-housery right there.
Jorginho then decided to make the derby more entertaining. Under no pressure whatsoever, the Italian dithered on the ball before tripping over his own feet, allowing Maddison to dispossess him. He played it into the path of Son who duly dispatched his effort into the bottom corner.
Credit:@SpursOfficial
As the game went on, Vicario looked to clear the ball and Nketiah slid in wildly with his studs showing. The referee issued a yellow card but as the replay showed the Arsenal striker wasn’t far off crippling the Tottenham keeper. But of course, VAR could not get involved as a yellow card had been issued for the foul. The game is broken.
The teams were to share the spoils, it will seem a hard fought for point for Ange Postecoglou’s side while Arsenal can count themselves lucky that they finished with eleven men on the pitch. It was an entertaining derby, a draw was probably a fair result but it could have been all so different if Gabriel Jesus was able to finish.
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