Spurs 2-3 Arsenal

Despite having chances in the first period and enjoying more of the possession at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, we found ourselves 3-0 down at the break as Arsenal took their chances, going ahead after an own goal from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg before goals from Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz.

Once again, we needed a big second half and gave ourselves hope of a famous comeback when Romero netted on 64 minutes and skipper Son converted a penalty with three minutes remaining. However, despite a frenetic final few minutes, we failed to find that one last chance to force the equaliser and slipped to a 3-2 defeat.

As you’d expect, the atmosphere was electric at kick-off with so much at stake for both sides and the game was fairly frantic in the early stages, although neither goalkeeper was unduly troubled. Martin Odegaard fired a free-kick into our wall and James Maddison shot high over the bar before the visitors went ahead on 15 minutes, Saka’s near-post corner flicking off the head of Hojbjerg and flying into the net.

Our response was decent, with Romero heading Maddison’s free-kick against the far post before we thought we’d equalised when Micky van de Ven smashed home after Pedro Porro’s long-ranger landed at his feet, but a closer inspection by VAR ruled it out for a tight offside.

Instead, it was Arsenal with the next goal on 27 minutes. Maddison was tackled inside the Gunners' box and the visitors countered, Declan Rice playing a crossfield pass out to Saka on the right and he drove into our area, cut inside Ben Davies and slid a shot into the far corner. It was 3-0 11 minutes later, Rice delivering a corner from the far side and this time it was Havertz, unmarked six yards out who headed past Guglielmo Vicario.

Late in the half, a great chance came our way when a superb ball over the top from Porro found Son, whose control was perfect however his finish less so as he blasted a shot over the crossbar and we went in at the interval with plenty of work to do.

Both sides put headers over the bar in the opening five minutes of the second half, Takehiro Tomiyasu for Arsenal and Romero for us before Vicario pulled off a stunning save with his legs to keep out Saka’s volley on 53 minutes. Then we pulled one back in bizarre circumstances, goalkeeper David Raya having all the time in the world only to clear the ball straight to Romero, who steadied himself before rolling it into the bottom corner.

That lifted the atmosphere again and changed the game somewhat, as Arsenal were more content to drop back and let us have possession, while we tried to capitalise on the momentum shift. It meant we were seeing plenty of the ball although we weren’t really able to carve out too many chances.

That was until three minutes from time when VAR intervened to award us a penalty after Rice had kicked Davies inside the area. Up stepped Son to blast the spot-kick home and once again, give us renewed hope of taking something from the game.

The final stages saw Arsenal clinging on as we threw everything at them, even Vicario going up for a corner deep into stoppage time, but the equalising goal just eluded us.