As always, the atmosphere building up to this game was intense. Both sets of fans needed the win, but for Tottenham especially, if they won this game, it would look like their season could only go up from there. Arsenal have been dominant in recent derby games, but it could all change today. Alexis Sanchez is out with injury and Spurs have a top goal scorer in Harry Kane, who has 20 goals in all games this season.
Spurs started the game brightly and enjoyed a lot of possession as they pushed forward. The first real chance in the game came only 5 minutes in when Kane tried to curl the ball around the keeper and into the bottom corner. However, David Ospina was equal to it and pulled of a great save to turn the ball out for a corner.
Arsenal stuck with the tactics that they used against Manchester City; they kept all of their players behind the ball when Spurs were attacking, played on the counter attack, and kept the game very compact in the middle of the field and this change in philosophy seemed to pay off for Arsene Wenger. On 11 minutes, Danny Welbeck used his pace to get ahead of the Spurs defender and crossed the ball into the box. This was met by Olivier Giroud who scuffed his shot. The ball did, however, land nicely for Mesut Ozil who took the shot on the volley and saw the ball hit the back of the net after sailing over Hugo Lloris.
Spurs didn't let this stop them though. The goal had been against the run of play and it continued to go this way. Danny Rose was given a lot of space down the left hand side throughout the game, and often had some of the best chances. Not long after the Arsenal breakthrough, Rose found himself in acres of space which allowed him to make a run directly into the penalty box. The shot that followed was saved by Ospina. More Spurs chances followed those, Nabil Bentaleb dragged a shot from outside the box wide and Rose had another chance which went across the face of goal before going wide. Repeatedly, Ospina was equal to the chances that Spurs threw at him.
Ryan Mason also had a good chance with a shot from outside of the box, followed by Kane's shot that flashed across the face of the goal after he fought through the challenges from the Arsenal defence. Ospina again turned both chances away, but it seemed like at some point in the match, Spurs would be able to break down the Arsenal defence.
Arsenal did begin the second half a lot brighter than the first. Their build up play was very good and Santi Cazorla was at the middle of it all. He had a shot from just outside of the box, which could possibly have been heading wide, but Lloris still got across to turn the ball around for the corner, which Arsenal couldn't make a chance out of.
On 56 minutes, Mason, who had been bright in the attacking moves, had a shot that was deflected off Laurent Koscielny for a corner. Christian Eriksen whips the corner into the box, where it is headed further into the action. Ospina tries to palm the ball out, but doesn't get enough of a hand to it and sees it land at the feet of Kane who is left with a simple tap in.
This seemed to put even more wind into the Tottenham Hotspur sails. Quickly after their goal, they were pushing forward again, this time with Moussa Dembele. His shot was saved by Ospina, but he could only push the ball back into play where Kane was very close to being on the end of the ball to turn it into the net. He just missed, but nothing would have happened as the offside flag had gone up. Arsenal looked extremely nervous after the goal and looked like they could pay for their nervy defending.
Arsenal did get another chance though. Welbeck tried to curl his shot around the keeper which prompted Lloris to make an excellent save. The corner that followed saw a chance land to Koscielny who directed his header straight at Lloris. At the other end of the pitch minutes later, Eric Dier had a header cleared off the line by Francis Coquelin and Mason saw his follow up volley saved once again by Ospina.
Spurs continued to push for the winner and looked the more likely of the two teams to get it. Once again, Kane was the player waiting to get onto the end of the ball. Bentaleb floated a beautiful ball into the box which Kane leaped highest to reach. His looping header sailed over Ospina to land in the bottom of the net, finishing the game off for the home side and stopping Arsenal's recent winning run. Could this be the win that springboards Tottenham's season to better things? Right now, it sees them leapfrog their arch rivals into the top four of the Premier League table.
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