Tottenham hold Arsenal to 2-2 draw in North London Derby

The North London Derby delivered another thrilling encounter on Sunday as Tottenham held Arsenal to an entertaining 2-2 draw at the Emirates Stadium. The Gunners took the lead twice through a Cristian Romero own goal and a Bukayo Saka penalty, but Heung-Min Son equalised in either half for Spurs to share the spoils after an enthralling 90 minutes.

Buoyed by their 4-0 victory over PSV Eindhoven in midweek in the Champions League, Arsenal dominated the early stages of this heated encounter. Italian goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario bailed out the visitors twice in the opening exchanges, denying Gabriel Jesus with a sharp save before keeping out an Eddie Nketiah effort after a poor pass by left-back Destiny Udogie.

The Gunners, though, kept their foot on the pedal and deservedly found the opening goal on 26 minutes. Bukayo Saka cut inside off the right wing and his shot caught a wicked deflection of Argentinian central defender Romero before settling into the bottom corner to give the home side a 1-0 lead.

The hosts should have doubled their lead moments later when Gabriel Jesus pickpocketed James Maddison on the edge of the Tottenham area, but the Brazilian forward blasted his shot over the bar, sparing Tottenham’s blushes.

The away side grew into the contest as the half wore on and it took a fantastic one-handed save from David Raya to deny a Brennan Johnson effort and keep the scores level. However, Tottenham kept pushing forward before the break and found their equaliser four minutes later after James Maddison turned past Bukayo Saka and teed up Heung-Min Son for a tidy finish.

Mikel Arteta made two changes at the break, replacing Declan Rice and Fabio Vieira with Jorginho and Kai Havertz, and the Gunners retook the lead on 54 minutes through Bukayo Saka. VAR awarded the home side a penalty after a handball by Cristian Romero, and the English winger tucked home his spot kick nonchalantly to restore Arsenal’s lead.

However, Tottenham equalised again just 2 minutes later. Half-time substitute Jorginho was caught in possession by James Maddison, and the summer signing played in Heung-Min Son to make it 2-2 with another neat finish past David Raya.

Both sides pushed for a winner in the final stages, but the third goal proved elusive as the two rivals had to settle for a point each in the derby, keeping their respective unbeaten streaks in the league alive. The draw leaves Arsenal in fifth on 14 points, trailing Tottenham in fourth due to goal difference.