Tottenham vs Arsenal LIVE: Premier League result and final score as Ramsdale denies Spurs
Tottenham 0-2 Arsenal: Mikel Arteta’s Gunners move eight points clear at top of table with victory over Spurs
Arsenal moved eight points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table after securing their first away win in the north London derby since 2014. The Gunners started quickly and piled pressure on Antonio Conte’s Tottenham who are notoriously slow starters.
Bukayo Saka proved a dangerous threat on the right wing and gave Arsenal the lead when Hugo Lloris fumbled a fizzing cross over his own goal line. Mikel Arteta’s men continued to attack and after a couple of sighters Martin Odegaard sank one from range, beating Lloris with a low driving shot to the far bottom corner.
Spurs responded after the break with Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Ryan Sessegnon coming close but all getting denied by goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale. Arsenal then settled the game down and cruised to victory in a sedate last 10 minutes.
Relive all the action from the North London derby as Tottenham host Arsenal:
Kane chasing the records
Harry Kane is one short of equalling Jimmy Greaves as Tottenham’s leading scorer with 266 goals for the club.
Kane is also two shy of 200 Premier League goals and is aiming to become the third player to reach that milestone after Wayne Rooney and Alan Shearer.
He has nine goals in eight Premier League home games against Arsenal.
Newcastle beat Fulham
In one of the 2pm kick offs today, Newcastle have snatched victory against Fulham meaning that they move above Manchester United and back into third place.
For Tottenham, a win today would see them close the gap on the top four to two points.
Arsenal’s biggest threat?
Eddie Nketiah has scored five times in his last five appearances in all competitions. Is the striker going to be Arsenal’s main threat today?
Perfectly balanced
Mikel Arteta has managed Arsenal in six north London derbies with a record of three home wins and three away defeats. Will Arteta collect his first derby away win this afternoon?
Can Conte beat Arsenal?
Antonio Conte has won only two of his 10 matches as a manager against Arsenal. He’s drawn four and lost four of the other eight encounters.
Arsenal in record breaking form
The Gunners are vying to win seven successive Premier League London derbies for the first time since the 2007/08 season when they beat Spurs home and away.
Arsenal can win five successive away matches in all competitions for the first time since September to October 2018 under Unai Emery.
Tottenham face latest chance to buck Antonio Conte’s most damaging trait
He came, he saw, he immediately made clear changes were required and, after nearly £200m worth of upgrades, Antonio Conte still hasn’t really fixed much of anything at Tottenham Hotspur at all. Spurs host Premier League leaders Arsenal on Sunday knowing that as difficult as it is at any time to win the derby, this year will be even more so - and their manager has thus far proven incapable of setting up his side to win the biggest encounters on a regular basis. The stakes have rarely been higher when white meets red, making it all the more important the Italian breaks his wretched streak.
We’ve had Premier League clashes where both sides are fighting for the same European spot, of course. The North London clubs have battled more than once for the fourth and final Champions League spot – lasagnagate, and all that – but the last time they met when either was hoping for a title fight was the 2015/16 season, when Spurs were challenging Leicester and yet ended up behind Arsenal anyway.
That year, their second meeting of the campaign came at the start of March; in typical fashion Tottenham went into the game hoping to leapfrog the Foxes into top spot on goal difference – but ended the day five points off the pace instead.
Tottenham face latest chance to buck Conte’s most damaging trait
The Spurs boss has been unable to find the winning formula in the most crucial matches, and another failure here would give a huge boost to his club’s biggest rivals in their quest for the Premier League title
‘Arsenal are favourites to win the league'
More from Tottenham’s boss now who claims that Arsenal are favourites to win the Premier League following Man City’s defeat to Man Utd yesterday.
"In the last 10 years it was always the same, between [Manchester] City, Chelsea and Liverpool. Maybe Leicester.” said Conte,
"Now Arsenal have a great opportunity. They are working for many years in a project. They are doing very well. They sent away a lot of players, and bring in many players and they spend money to do it.
"Now they have to show they can stay there until the end of the season because I’m sure Manchester City doesn’t agree and will feel the real possibility to win [the title] again.
"I think it is a battle between Arsenal and Manchester City."
Arsenal will have a different mindset says Conte
Tottenham boss, Antonio Conte, says that Arsenal will come into this match with a different mindset given their league position. He says that being at the top of the table brings a confidence to the squad.
"When you are at the top of the league the perception of your opponents change totally,” he said, "You are in that moment the best team in the league. For this reason, everybody wants to try to beat you.
"For sure, Arsenal has to face this situation of being favourites to win the league at this moment because they are top of the table. They have to show they are good to face this type of situation.”
Late bloomers
Tottenham have scored 27 of their 37 Premier League goals in the second half of matches this season, more than any other team.
Conversely, they have scored just once in the first half of their last 13 fixtures in all competitions. That was Harry Kane’s goal versus Leeds in November.
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