The North London derby was as exciting as expected, and once again Arsenal showed their strength.

The 5-0 victory over the Blues in midweek marked Arsenal’s biggest-ever victory over Chelsea. After Manchester City’s 4-0 victory over Brighton, Arsenal is still temporarily leading the Premier League rankings but does not have the right to self-determination, especially with Man City’s current form. Therefore, the Gunners need to ensure they win every match to keep their hopes of winning the title alive.

Due to the FA Cup semi-final schedule, it has been more than two weeks since Tottenham last played and Ange Postecoglou has made three changes from the squad that was defeated at Newcastle last round. Destiny Udogie, Brennan Johnson, and Yves Bissouma sat out while Ben Davies, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, and Dejan Kulusevski started. Richarlison is on the bench as he returns from injury. Mikel Arteta kept the same squad that defeated Chelsea 5-0 in midweek.

Although Spurs are rated lower in this derby, they are expected to take advantage of their home field advantage to make things difficult for the Gunners. At the beginning of the match, everything seemed to go that way when the Rooster entered the game quickly, received a free kick early, and controlled the ball most of the time. However, the red and white shirt team quickly showed their superiority.

The first situation came when Kai Havertz shook the home net, but the referee quickly raised the flag because Martin Odegaard was offside. But immediately after that, the goal came for Arsenal. In a corner kick from the away team, after a beautiful pass from Saka, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg jumped up to compete for the ball and created an own goal.

5 minutes later, Tottenham responded with an unfortunate ball hitting the post. In the 25th minute, the white team seemed to have equalized when defender Micky van de Ven put the ball into the net, but after a long VAR check, the referee determined he was offside and the goal was not recognized.

The remaining time of the first half was Arsenal’s performance. In the 28th minute, Saka doubled the gap. 10 minutes later, Havertz once again shined, continuing his recent impressive form, increasing the score to 3-0. In the first half, Spurs controlled the ball a lot but finished ineffectively.

After the break, Arsenal played more proactively, but the Rooster was the one with the goal. In the 64th minute, Raya returned the ball to his teammate but immediately hit Romero. This defender skillfully controlled the ball with his chest before finishing to narrow the gap.

The match remained dramatic until the end. In the 85th minute, another highlight appeared when the referee consulted VAR and pointed to the penalty spot after Declan Rice fouled Davies. Son Heung-min stood in front of the ball and made no mistakes. Luckily for Arsenal, it was the last goal of the match. They defeated Spurs 3-2, thereby increasing the gap with Man City to 4 points but playing 2 more matches.

The Hale End academy graduate happily doubled Arsenal’s lead, then taunted the home crowd by cupping his ears and sticking out his tongue. The Gunners clearly had an overwhelming first half, but in the second half, they faced extreme pressure.