At times it felt like there was just Petr Cech. There he was, leaping to save from a Christian Eriksen free kick. And there again, sprawling to deny Erik Lamela or pushing away a Kieran Trippier strike. Just one goal separated the teams in this north London derby, but that didn’t tell the full story.

Tottenham, relentless, young and hungry, overwhelmed their opponents at Wembley in the second half. Harry Kane, inevitably, was the man who did take the chance which won the game. But there were several more. So many that nervous Tottenham fans must have felt rueful, fearing what was to come.

But nothing much did come. Arsenal must be pondering the fact that revivals aren’t what they used to be. Everton has proved accommodating guests last weekend, suggesting that the arrivals of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitarayan might spark a renaissance.

The newcomers had a more realistic assessment of their club’s predicament here. Arsenal deployed the cavalry. They ended up with six attacking players on the pitch. Yet still you never felt Tottenham losing their grip of this game until, thirty second from the final whistle, when Alexandre Lacazette was played in on goal.

And, then, for one brief moment you could believe Arsenal might be the equal of Spurs. As he connected with his strike, which beat Lloris, the Arsenal fans who had stayed, prepared to celebrate a famous draw. Yet, by a fraction, the ball cleared the far post and Spurs survived. It was truly the only major point of concern.

Tottenham entered a crucial five-game run two weeks ago, said to test their credentials. They face Juventus of Tuesday having taken seven points from Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool and progressed to the FA Cup fifth round. Incrementally, their advance continues. A Champions League quarter final would be another sign they are London’s coming team.

A bright, competitive opening gave way to a half of Tottenham dominance thwarted by Arsenal’s defensive discipline. Kane and Alli combined exquisitely on nine minutes and when Alli tried to play his team-mate back in, Shkodran Mustafi’s necessary interception had Petr Cech scrambling to save.

However, the additional attacking threat Arsenal have added was evident on 13 minutes. Tottenham seemed a little nervous of employing their usual high line and with good reason, given Pierre Emerick Aubameyang is always lurking.



Thereafter though Arsenal seemed to content to concede possession and employ the kind of solidity they have been criticised for lacking in the past. The selection of Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny was the clue; Arsenal would aim to scrap this one out in periods.

It worked for a while. They restricted Tottenham to limited chances. However, the one they had on 26minutes should have opened the scoring. The delivery was just superb by the excellent Christian Eriksen, a bending cross into the path of Harry Kane. He slightly mis-judged his run, rose too high to meet the ball and headed over from six yards out.

Eric Dier almost connected with Mousa Dembele mis-it on 30 minutes but Arsenal were absorbing and frustrating Tottenham. Their only significant moment came when Hector Bellerin skewed a 40th minute shot wide. When they did attempt to counter, there was none of last weekend’s slickness in the interplay between Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Mesut Ozil.

Tottenham tough began the second half even more brightly, seemingly determined not to throw away this opportunity. And their breakthrough moment came on 49 minutes thanks to a delightful cross from Ben Davies.

Delivered just perfectly into the box, it allowed Kane to evade both Laurent Koscielny and Mustafi, sneaking inbetween the two to head home decisively, the first-half miss now rectified.

Buoyed by the goal, Tottenham began to assert their authority. On 52 minutes Kane glanced a header wide; on 56 minutes he had a thunderous volley pushed away by Cech; on 57 minutes Cech was again called into action to tip away an Eriksen free kick.

Wenger’s response was to attempt to attack with Aubameyang going wide left, Alexandre Lacazette coming on as centre forward, Alex Iwobi playing wide right and Mesut Ozil reverting to the No.10 role. Yet all they could muster was a curling shot from Wlshere on 68 minutes which produced a fine save from Hugo Lloris.

Tottenham though were relentless, yet just not clinical enough. Alli poked a good chance wide of Cech on 72 minutes, Cech was required to pull off a fine save from Lamela on 73 minutes and then, when Eriksen dropped the ball into the path of Kieran Trippier on 76 minutes, the moment seemed to have arrived.

Yet Trippier drove straight at Cech who palmed the ball away. Still, the momentum of the game had been clearly established and Arsenal were just hanging on.