Arsenal triumphed over rivals Tottenham Hotspur in North London Derby on Sunday evening, with Alexandre Lacazette scoring the winner from a controversial penalty.
Gunners (Arsenal) came from behind to secure a fully deserved Derby win and inflict damage on Tottenham‘s hopes of a place in the Premier League’s top four.
Erik Lamela had an eventful game, coming on as a substitute after Heung-min Son suffered an injury in the first-half. He gave Spurs (Tottenham) the lead with an outrageous rabona strike, scoring on his best goals of his career. However, the Tottenham forward went from hero to villain when he was sent off for a second booking after Jose Mourinho’s side blew the lead.
Real Madrid loanee, Martin Odegaard equalised for Arsenal on the stroke of half-time, with his shot taking a deflection off Toby Alderweireld and beating Tottenham goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris.
Lacazette raced into the Tottenham box after collecting a pass from Nicolas Pepe and tried to strike the bouncing ball at goal. However, the striker got his shot all wrong and sliced it badly. He then collided with Spurs defender Sanchez, who had leaped across to try to make a block.
Referee Michael Oliver pointed to the penalty spot immediately and the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) waded in, advising the referee to stand by his initial decision.
Spurs almost snatched a point in the closing moments when Harry Kane‘s free-kick bounced off the post, with Arsenal defender, Gabriel heading Sanchez’s goal-bound shot off the line from the rebound.
Arsenal, who dropped captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for the game for disciplinary reasons, stay in 10th place but Spurs are now six points adrift of Chelsea in fourth, although with a game in hand.
Gunners boss, Mikel Arteta speaking after the match said;
We had a really strong performance right from the beginning, we created many chances and went a goal down with their first shot.
But I love the reaction of the team, we stayed composed and in the end we won the game. Scoring before half-time was really important as it put us in a good position for the second half.
We scored the second goal, we got a bit nervy in the final 10 minutes and that is one of the things we need to improve as a team.
On his part, Tottenham Hotspur’s boss, Jose Mourinho spoke after his side’s defeat, saying;
First half we were poor, 1-1 is not a reflection of what happened on the pitch. They were more intense, aggressive, moving the ball better than us.
In the second half we recovered control of the game. In our good moments we made changes to try to win the game and when the game was there to be played, the referee made a wrong decision [awarding the Arsenal penalty], the VAR confirmed the wrong decision from the referee.
And then at 2-1 it was time for the team to step up and show a good reaction to get an equaliser, but I cannot say much more than this.
Arsenal have remained unbeaten in their past 10 Premier League home games against Spurs.
