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Arsenal v Tottenham: Player ratings from dramatic North London Derby

By Thomas Atzenhoffer

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 06: Harry Kane of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates scoring his sides first goal with Danny Rose and Heung-Min Son of Tottenham Hotspur during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium on November 6, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 06: Harry Kane of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates scoring his sides first goal with Danny Rose and Heung-Min Son of Tottenham Hotspur during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at Emirates Stadium on November 6, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images) /
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A Sunday opening North London Derby saw the Gunners host an undefeated Tottenham at the Emirates for the 179th meeting of the famous rivalry.

On a day that Arsenal could go top and Tottenham could pull themselves into the top four, neither side made the most of their opportunities as it finished in a 1-1 draw.

In an unexpected move, Spurs showed up with a new formation as Mauricio Pochettino changed things up and went three at the back, following Chelsea’s success since their change maybe its just the thing to do these days.

However, it looked a stroke of Genius in the opening portion of the match as the additional bodies in the midfield were slowing down Arsenal’s ability to build into their attack.

Spurs had the early chances as returned from injury Harry Kane was just missed in a play from Son Heung-Min and then the England forward went just wide with a headed effort on goal, had Kane not been missing for the last extended period of time he likely would have opened the scoring.

On the half hour mark the hosts started to finally be figuring out how to break down their rivals new formation but Alex Iwobi missed a chance served up by Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott then hit Hugo Lloris’ post.

Three minutes later controversy would reign as a free kick from Mesut Ozil was misplayed by Tottenham’s Kevin Wimmer and resulted in an own goal, but there was question as to if it should have stood with Sanchez in a clearly offside position.

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Nevertheless, Spurs were happy for the breather as Arsenal were pressing hard at the break.

Pochettino got his men back on track as they started the second period much better, but they were gifted their equalizer through a poor foul by Laurent Koscielny on Moussa Dembele that resulted in Harry Kane scoring from the spot to extend his Derby streak to three.

The game opened up for the last forty minutes as each side looked for a winner. Aaron Ramsey, Olivier Giroud and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all came off the Arsenal bench looking to make the difference while the only Spurs change was to bring on Vincent Janssen.

Unfortunately for both sides, neither of them could get a winner, but Spurs remain the only unbeaten side in the Premier League and take a firm lead on fifth as they push for their own top four place once more this campaign.

ARSENAL v TOTTENHAM

Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Cech (6.5); Bellerin (7.0), Mustafi (7.5), Koscielny (6.5), Monreal (7.5); Coquelin (6.5), Xhaka (7.5); Walcott (6.0), Ozil (7.5), Iwobi (5.5); Sanchez (7.0).

Tottenham (3-4-2-1): Lloris (6.5); Dier (6.5), Wimmer (6.0), Vertonghen (6.5); Walker (7.5), Wanyama (6.5), Dembele (8.0), Rose (7.5); Eriksen (6.5), Heung-Min (6.0); Kane (7.0).

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