First-half goals lead to Gunners turnaround

A disappointing north London derby ended in defeat as Arsenal came from behind to take all three points at the Emirates on Wednesday night.

Heung-Min Son fired us ahead in the 25th minute after we’d survived a fraught opening spell but Arsenal hit back with two goals in four minutes just before half-time through a Dominic Solanke own goal and Leandro Trossard to go in front.

The second period was a lacklustre 45 minutes from both sides and we struggled to produce anything in front of goal until virtually the last kick of the game when Pedro Porro crashed a shot against the post. It means we are now on a run of one win in our last nine Premier League matches.

Three 18-year-olds were featuring in this fixture for the first time with Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray for us and Myles Lewis-Skelly for the Gunners and it was the latter who created the first chance of the game after just three minutes, Lewis-Skelly putting Raheem Sterling through on goal but he seemed to hesitate when confronted by Antonin Kinsky and we were able to clear the danger. We had to defend a flurry of corners and survived again on 13 minutes, Trossard’s shot from 10 yards out blocked by Radu Dragusin.

Having negotiated a tricky opening 20 minutes, we created two great chances ourselves, the first when Djed Spence clipped over a delightful cross which Gabriel defended superbly to prevent Solanke from applying the finishing touch before David Raya made a fine save to keep out Dejan Kulusevski’s fierce drive from a corner.
And then we really punished Arsenal by taking the lead when a corner was cleared only as far as Son just inside the area and his controlled volley flicked off Thomas Partey and crept inside the post. That was the skipper’s ninth goal against Arsenal.

But the home side restored parity five minutes before half-time, Gabriel getting on the end of a Declan Rice corner at the back post, the ball rebounding in off Solanke and then we were behind on 44 minutes. Yves Bissouma was dispossessed on halfway and Arsenal broke, the ball played out to Trossard on the left and he surged forwards before hitting an angled left-foot drive which beat Kinsky and left us trailing at the interval.

It remained a difficult game for us early in the second half as Arsenal continued to be the better team, Kai Havertz heading a Partey cross straight at Kinsky before Lucas Bergvall got back to snuff out a chance moments later. We were struggling to really create much in attacking areas while the home side were dominating possession and we almost fell further behind when Rice worked his way into space on the edge of the area and fired a shot which hit Kinsky in the chest while we escaped again moments later when trying to play out from the back but Arsenal couldn’t find the right pass to get a clear shot on goal.

In the closing minutes we started to see more of the ball in the final third, although it was still the Gunners with the better chances and Martin Odegaard should have added a third but fired wide eight yards out in front of goal. The final action of the game almost brought about an equaliser, Kulusevski sliding the ball down the side of the area for Porro who lashed a shot from a really tight angle which crashed against the post and with it went any hopes of getting a result.

Match data

Goals: Arsenal – Solanke (OG) 40, Trossard 44; Spurs – Son 25.

Yellow cards: Arsenal – Havertz, Lewis-Skelly, Gabriel; Spurs – Sarr.

Referee: Simon Hooper.

Venue: Emirates Stadium.

Weather: Light cloud, light winds, six degrees.

Attendance: 60,287.