Arsenal beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 on Wednesday evening to move to within four points of the top of the Premier League.

The hosts dominated the early rallies, but Spurs scored with one of their first chances of the game. A deflected shot from Son Heung-min went past goalkeeper David Raya and gave the visitors the lead.

But Arsenal turned the game around within four minutes. First, Gabriel’s header from a corner hit Dominic Solanke before going into the net. Leandro Trossard then shot forward and scored from distance for Arsenal.

A continuous second half produced no further goals.

The Athletics Experts Art de Roché, Jack Pitt-Brooke, Jay Harris and Anantaajith Raghuraman analyzed the game.

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How important was this win for Arsenal’s title hopes?

Arsenal had missed opportunities to make up ground on Liverpool in recent weeks – which made this north London derby win all the more important. The league leaders still have a game in hand, but reducing the gap to four points should give Arsenal encouragement going into the second half of the season.

The weight of the game was felt in the ground throughout the game. After two disappointing cup defeats, the stadium was louder than ever all season, driving the players on.

Encouraged by the noise from the home team, Kai Havertz set the tone with a tackle on the sideline. The fans didn’t fall silent either after Son gave Spurs the lead, giving the pitch an urgency that was crucial to the turnaround at the end of the first half.

From a footballing perspective, this helped Arsenal attack in a much more targeted manner than in recent games. This was also evident in their second goal, as Martin Odegaard and Trossard made their passing and shooting decisions much earlier than in previous games.

However, this result will only really matter if they prove it. The home defeat to Aston Villa was fateful last season, so this weekend’s meeting is an opportunity to improve the record and start the run needed to catch Liverpool.

Art de Roche

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Where are Spurs after this defeat?

After their eleventh defeat of the season in the Premier League, Tottenham are 14 points behind fourth place. Remarkably, they are two points behind West Ham United, who have barely played well all season and have just changed their manager.

This was by no means Tottenham’s worst performance this season. In the second half they had some good moments on the counterattack, took the lead, but let the game slip away just before the break. Then they had plenty of opportunities in the second half but were never sharp enough to take advantage. Pedro Porro even hit the post in stoppage time.

The problem for Spurs is that every team has injuries and yet few teams have performed as poorly recently as Tottenham are currently doing. They don’t know how to win games that they don’t dominate. And honestly, with a better finish from Arsenal the result would have been even more embarrassing than it was.

Jack Pitt Brooke

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Should Arsenal have had the corner in the build-up to their first goal?

Tottenham survived an attack from Arsenal in the first half hour and took the lead through Son, but the bubble burst in the 40th minute when Solanke scored an own goal from a Declan Rice corner.

It was a well-crafted move as Gabriel made a quick run towards the back post and his header bounced off Solanke past Antonin Kinsky, but Spurs will be understandably frustrated as the corner should not have been given.

A through ball left Trossard free on the left wing and Porro, who had slipped awkwardly a few minutes earlier, did well to keep up with him. Porro blocked Trossard’s cross with his left foot and it appeared to hit the Arsenal winger’s right leg before going out. However, the referees awarded Arsenal a corner and less than a minute later all of Tottenham’s hard work was undone.

Tottenham’s record of defending set pieces has improved, but it would have been annoying to concede from a corner against Arsenal for the second time this season.

Jay Harris

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How mistakes from both teams defined the first half

Matches like these are often greeted with the understanding that the margin for error is slim and neither team helped themselves as they conceded as a result of avoidable errors.

In the moments before Spurs’ opener, Arsenal sent plenty of men forward but were unable to field enough players with equal energy, allowing goalkeeper Kinsky Pape to find Matar Sarr in wide space. Sarr equalized by carrying the ball three-quarters of the pitch before winning a corner from Thomas Partey. When Tottenham took a short corner, Arsenal were slow to react after the initial free throw and were unable to keep out Son, who scored with a tame attempt via a deflection.

The hosts’ equalizer came in fortuitous circumstances when the referee mistakenly awarded Arsenal a corner when the ball went past Trossard’s leg following a tackle by Porro. But the Spurs didn’t do themselves any favors from the corner. Kinsky completely misread an excellent performance from Declan Rice, while Radu Dragusin lost Gabriel, who got to the far post and applied enough pressure to force a Solanke own goal.

The Spurs won’t want to see the third goal conceded either. Yves Bissouma was on the ball in his own half, allowing Partey to win the ball and find Odegaard. With Spurs having pushed their men forward when in possession, Odegaard was able to easily set up Trossard, who completed the move, although some will rightly wonder whether Kinsky, who had the shot in his hand, could have kept it away.

Mikel Arteta and Ange Postecoglou would have been anything but pleased.

Anantaajith Raghuraman

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How has Sterling fared on his return to the Arsenal starting line-up?

With Gabriel Jesus on the injured list alongside Bukayo Saka and Ethan Nwaneri, this was a big night for Raheem Sterling on the right wing.

This was his first league start since October when he was sacrificed as a replacement for William Saliba following his red card at Bournemouth and unfortunately that ended with action in the opening minutes of the game.

Sterling, substituted by Myles Lewis-Skelly, was in excellent position to score a first-time completion, but settled for a touchdown and the chance was wasted. He had a similar moment when Havertz passed in the penalty area in the second half, only to mess up his lines. The effort was there for the most part, but in the crucial moments there seemed to be a lack of confidence and clarity.

For example, the winger did well to win the ball back in loose duels, but struggled to beat Djed Spence on the right. His driving runs made an impression against Manchester United, but Spence’s frame and lack of support on the overlap made the task more difficult for Sterling.

This became even more noticeable in the first half as the fans in the West Stand urged him to take on his man at every opportunity, but the breakthrough simply didn’t happen.

Sterling had some brilliant moments, backheeling Jurrien Timber in the box and driving runs through the middle of the pitch. That it is his first league start in three months might make the inconsistency of his performance understandable. However, more determination (and possibly support) may be required in the future if Arsenal attack through him.

Art de Roche

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Kinsky’s struggles remind us of the importance of patience

It was a quick introduction to English football for Kinsky, but it was also a reminder that perhaps people should have more patience with Tottenham’s new goalkeeper.

Kinsky was constantly under pressure and struggled to cope. No one could question his confidence with the ball at his feet, but he was left to struggle in the first half when Havertz fired off one of his shots. It didn’t help that Archie Gray and Dragusin struggled to build from the back and therefore tended to pass the ball back to Kinsky every time. Kinsky was under more pressure than necessary.

But Kinsky didn’t just have problems with the ball at his feet. When Arsenal equalized, it was partly because Kinsky was trapped on a corner and couldn’t reach the ball.

Four minutes later came the crucial moment in the game when Trossard fired a hard shot into the bottom corner and Kinsky got a hand on it but couldn’t keep the ball away. This is not how he would have imagined his first North London derby.

Jack Pitt Brooke

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What did Mikel Arteta say?

Arteta told BBC Sport: “We were outstanding today. From the first minute we were really into it, really intense. We played with the real intention of hurting them. We created an incredible atmosphere.

“We know how important the game is. It is a gift with which we can make our supporters very happy.

“The attitude we played with, without feeling sorry for ourselves, was phenomenal.”

What did Ange Postecoglou say?

Postecoglou said: “There is no magic cure. You have to get up tomorrow, work hard and go to Sunday and prepare to go into battle and change our fortunes and our season. There is nothing magical that can change it. There are always reasons why all these things happen.

“The reality is that our results and form in the league were nowhere near good enough. That has to change.”

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What’s next for Arsenal?

Saturday, January 18th: Aston Villa (H), Premier League, 5:30pm GMT, 12:30pm ET

What’s next for Tottenham?

Sunday, January 19th: Everton (A), Premier League, 2:00 p.m. GMT, 9:00 a.m. ET

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