Match report: Arsenal 3 Tottenham Hotspur 1

Haran Naresh watched on from The Emirates as Tottenham Hotspur were dominated by local rivals Arsenal.

The Emirates Stadium (credit Ank Kumar/Wikimedia Commons)

Tottenham Hotspur were brushed aside by Arsenal in the North London derby.

A first half blitz from the home side saw Emile Smith Rowe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bukayo Saka all get on the scoresheet. Spurs improved in the second half and got a consolation through Son Heung-min but the damage was already done.

Arsenal made a fast start, penning Spurs into their own half. Smith Rowe collected the ball on the half-way line and played it wide to Kieran Tierney, who crossed to Aubameyang and the striker hit a low shot that was saved by Hugo Lloris.

The home side took the lead in the 12th minute. Martin Odegaard laid the ball off to Bukayo Saka who ran at Sergio Reguilon before cutting back to Smith Rowe, who scuffed his effort but made enough contact for the ball to roll into the net. The goal had been coming with the amount of pressure that Arsenal were exerting on the Tottenham goal.

With 15 minutes on the clock Spurs created their first decent opening when Tanguy Ndombele played an excellent diagonal to Reguilon and the full-back put in a searching cross which caused havoc in the Arsenal defence.

Arsenal had their tails up and Saka pulled the ball back to Thomas Partey who drilled a shot from just outside the area which forced Lloris to make a save.

Tottenham were being swarmed and a minute later Aubameyang fired a shot just over the bar.

In the 23rd minute Son won the ball and got to the by-line before he released a fierce effort which was pushed over by Aaron Ramsdale.

Arsenal doubled their lead in the 27th minute through a lethal counter-attack. Tierney played the ball into Aubameyang who flicked the ball around the corner to Smith Rowe. The midfielder advanced before playing a return pass for Aubameyang to steer home.

Tottenham were getting torn to shreds at this point and conceded a third in the 34th minute. Kane gave the ball away and Arsenal beat a half-hearted Spurs press to work the ball upfield to Saka. The winger was tackled by Kane, however the England captain only succeeded in pushing the ball back into Saka’s path and he delivered a cool finish.

A rare Tottenham attack almost resulted in them pulling a goal back. Japhet Tanganga put in a cross that was cleared behind by Gabriel. Kane headed narrowly wide from the resulting corner.

Early in the second half Arsenal had strong penalty shouts for handball against Spurs substitute Royal dismissed by the referee.

With 61 minutes gone Kane hit a shot from just outside the area that was saved by Aaron Ramsdale and Takehiro Tomiyasu was on hand to stop Son from reaching the rebound.

Arsenal eased off in the second half but were still easily the better team.

Odegaard sent a free-kick towards Aubameyang at the far post and the striker hit an effort that was collected by Lloris.

In the 74th minute Saka cut inside and hit a shot that was pushed away by Lloris.

Spurs got on the scoresheet in the 79th minute. Substitute Bryan Gil played Reguilon in behind and he picked out Son in the box whose shot was pushed into the net by Ramsdale.

Tottenham gave Arsenal a late scare when Lucas Moura hit an effort that took a deflection off Ainsley Maitland-Niles and was tipped onto the crossbar by Ramsdale.

Spurs delivered an abject display. Once again they looked devoid of any coherent strategy but more alarmingly they seemed to lack desire and effort against their most hated rivals.

They have now failed to secure a single victory in 90 minutes in their last five games and have conceded an astonishing 13 goals in the process.

Following three consecutive heavy defeats in the Premier League, Nuno Espirito Santo finds himself under immense pressure. He will desperately need a win in Tottenham’s league fixture at home to Aston Villa next Sunday.

Before then, Spurs play NS Mura in the Europa Conference League at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Thursday.

Tottenham manager Nuno Espirito Santo speaking in his post-match press conference: “A lot of things went wrong, starting with decisions that I made. The game plan didn’t work out.”

“This thought that if we achieve a goal early in the second half maybe we then can react and go for it. It didn’t happen, but all the positives are very fragile in terms of analysis that we should do.”

“We started very well with a clear idea [but] we lost it. It is taking us too much time to go back to the things we want to become as a team.”