Heung-min Son had a goal and an assist on Toby Alderweireld’s late winner as Tottenham Hotspur beat Arsenal 2-1 in a home North London Derby on Sunday.
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Alexandre Lacazette scored a spectacular goal for the Gunners to give Mikel Arteta’s men an early lead, but Arsenal sees its rivals climb above them and into eighth place on 52 points.
Arsenal’s 50 points drop them into ninth place, four back of seventh-place Sheffield United. The Gunners are in danger of missing out on European competition for the first time since 1996.
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Key points
Europe without Arsenal? Eighth-place looks set to deliver the Europa League to the Premier League thanks to Man City’s European ban and Arsenal and Spurs are locked in a four-team battle for seventh and eighth. Sheffield United’s 54 points lead the pack by 2 over Spurs and the Blades don’t have a soft out on the schedule with Leicester, Everton, and Southampton. Spurs have Newcastle, Leicester, and Palace and a 2-point lead on Arsenal. The Gunners have Liverpool, Villa, and Watford, while Burnley has 50 points and faces Wolves, Norwich, and Brighton.
A very Mou second half wins it: Arsenal was the better team on the day but Mourinho got goalkeeping from Hugo Lloris whenever Spurs opened the door in the second half. Mourinho let Arsenal have the ball with the hopes of conjuring danger in different parts of the field. Spurs registered seven shots on target and, like Arsenal, could’ve had more goals had the keepers not played quite well. But Spurs were credited with the only “big chances created” of the game as Arsenal’s best opportunities were supreme individual efforts from Aubameyang and Lacazette.
Man of the Match
You’d say Son by default given his goal and assist, and he could’ve had a hat trick had Martinez and David Luiz each denied him from close range, but advanced stats site SofaScore makes a brilliant case for the notes industrious day of Lucas Moura, who had two key passes, 10 tackles, and charged in 26 duels to win 16.
Tottenham - Arsenal recap
Emiliano Martinez leapt high to snare an in-tight Harry Kane chance.
Hector Bellerin then roasted Ben Davies on the right flank to play an invitation through the 18 that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang couldn’t pick up.
That’s when the fireworks started, Lacazette having some time with the ball outside the 18 and lashing an absolute piledriver past a flying Hugo Lloris.
But Spurs had an answer when Heung-min Son beat David Luiz to a wayward Sead Kolasinac pass and popped the ball over a desperate Martinez for 1-1 in the 19th minute.
Davies hammered a shot that Martinez pushed off the bar in thrilling fashion as the game passed the half-hour mark.
Nicolas Pepe answered that shot with a curled shot wide at the other end.
Aubameyang tore into a 26-yard free kick that just missed the far post in the 40th. Pepe then pumped another shot to Lloris as Arsenal crept closer to a second goal.
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The second half began tamer, with Hector Bellerin winning a corner kick and Shkrodan Mustafi popped an overhead kick into the hands of Lloris.
Aubameyang then smashed the woodwork in the 59th minute before Pepe won a free kick on the edge of the 18.
Mikel Arteta took off Nicolas Pepe for fellow live wire Bukayo Saka with 20 minutes to play.
Martinez made an incredible save on Son when Kane drove the left side of the box and cut back for the South Korea, only for the keeper to react so well.
Lloris made a fine stop on an Aubameyang arrow for the far corner in the 79th.
That’s when Alderweireld put Jose Mourinho’s men on top with his close-range header of Son’s corner.
Kane hit the post in the 83rd as Spurs aimed for comfort.