Arsenal survive Tottenham second half onslaught to win North London Derby

Arsenal survived a second-half rally from Tottenham to win the North London Derby 3-2 and move closer to winning the Premier League title.

Spurs truly wanted to spoil the party for Arsenal, and that early tackle from Timo Werner was intended to send a message, but was it enough to stop Arsenal?

In the first ten minutes, Arsenal kept pressing to break through the Spurs defence, but the Lilywhites defended well enough.

However, just three minutes later, Kai Havertz had the ball in the back of the net, only for it to be disallowed for offside.

That was a warning that Spurs refused to take seriously, and the Gunners scored the opener after 15 minutes when Pierre Emile Hojbjerg put through his own net.

Six minutes later, the home side could have levelled the score, but Cristian Romero’s header hit the crossbar.

Spurs then thought they had equalised, but after a lengthy VAR check, Micky van de Ven was adjudged to have been offside.

Four minutes later, Arsenal scored their second as Havertz set up Saka, who scored brilliantly.

Spurs were then forced into a change as Werner couldn’t continue due to injury, but the Lilywhites kept searching for a way back.

It didn’t come, and Arsenal scored their third goal of the half with a superb header from  Havertz.

Spurs were left reeling, and they still couldn’t find a way past the Arsenal defence in the first half.

Five minutes after the break, Takehiro Tomiyasu missed a chance to extend Arsenal’s lead, and the referee turned down Spurs’ penalty appeal.

Guglielmo Vicario then denied  Saka in the next big chance of the game.

In the 63rd minute, Mikel Arteta substituted Gabriel Martinelli for Leandro Trossard as he looked for another goal.

However, Spurs scored a minute later through Romero after a poor clearance by David Raya.

That goal gave Spurs some momentum and seemed to rattle Arsenal’s confidence as Spurs began to control the game.

With six minutes left to play, Ben Davies won Spurs a penalty after a VAR check. Son Heung-min converted to make it 3-2.

Arteta then substituted Martin Odegaard for Jakub Kiwior to strengthen the defence and secure the win.

Spurs continued to press for a third goal, and in added time, it was all about their attack. Arsenal had to defend with all they had to secure the win by the narrowest of margins.