Arsenal 2-2 Spurs

The report in full...

Twice we had to come from behind as Arsenal benefitted from a Cristian Romero own goal and a Bukayo Saka penalty, awarded for handball by Romero, but we showed tremendous character to battle back, Son cancelling out the first goal just before half-time before scoring again just 60 seconds after Saka’s penalty – the skipper’s 150^th Spurs goal.

It meant we dropped to fourth in the Premier League table and maintained our unbeaten start to the league campaign after picking up our first point at Arsenal since 2019.

Arsenal made the brighter start and we needed two smart saves from Guglielmo Vicario to keep us in it early on, making a wonderful stop to keep out Gabriel Jesus’s volley and then saving with his legs to deny Eddie Nketiah’s angled drive after a wayward pass from Destiny Udogie.

It was from an attack of our own that the Gunners took the lead on 26 minutes, breaking up play and countering at pace, Martin Odegaard finding Saka down the right, he cut on to his left and hit a shot which flew off the knee of Romero and hit the back of the net.

Our brand of football under Ange Postecoglou determines we will always try to play from the back and be brave in possession, but it almost led to the concession of a second goal when James Maddison was caught in possession by Jesus on the edge of the box but the Arsenal striker blazed over with just Vicario to beat.

But we continued to play our own football and worked our way back into the game, eventually forcing the equaliser. It almost came when David Raya made a superb save, clawing out Brennan Johnson’s effort from Son’s cut-back and then, three minutes before the break, Raya denied Johnson again but this time we recycled the ball quickly with Maddison pulling it back from the byline for Son to side-foot in off the far post.

Five minutes after the restart, a scramble in the box ended with Ben White’s close-range shot hitting the hand of Romero, just two yards away. A lengthy VAR check led to referee Rob Jones checking the incident on the pitchside monitor and deciding it was a penalty, with Saka beating Vicario from 12 yards.

We didn’t hang around feeling sorry for ourselves though and within 23 seconds of the restart, Maddison dispossessed substitute Jorginho 40 yards from goal and burst clear before laying the perfect pass off to Son who calmly tucked it past Raya for 2-2.

It was the perfect response and took the sting out of any pressure that might have built up had we trailed for any length of time. Instead, we really grew into the game and almost took the lead when Son was superbly released by Dejan Kulusevski but his effort was blocked for a corner. Arsenal went close in the 85^th minute, Gabriel glancing a corner to the back post but no-one was on hand to convert, while Kai Havertz blasted high and wide moments later.

With 10 minutes of stoppage time added on, there was still time for a winner and Arsenal stepped up the pressure, Vicario making a smart save low down to deny Saka’s effort from 18 yards. We survived into the final minute and could have snatched it late again, Richarlison’s 15-yard effort taking a deflection and sliding a yard wide. The final whistle blew as the resulting corner was cleared and we settled for the point.