London, Arsenal meted out their usual punishment to north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur at The Emirates with Thomas Partey, Gabriel Jesus and Granit Xhaka all on target in a 3-1 win to stay top of the Premier League on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Spurs’ Emerson Royal only added to the visitors’ misery when he was sent off in the second half for a reckless tackle on Gabriel Martinelli, Reuters reports.<\/p>\n
Harry Kane’s first-half equaliser for Tottenham saw him set yet more scoring records, but his side self-destructed after halftime as their 12-year wait for a league win in the fixture continued.<\/p>\n
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal have now won seven of their opening eight games and lead the standings by four points with second-placed Manchester City facing Man Utd on Sunday.<\/p>\n
An absorbing derby with top-spot up for grabs was evenly poised after Partey’s sublime 20th minute opener was cancelled out by Kane’s penalty just past the half-hour mark — making him the first player to score 100 away goals in the Premier League.<\/p>\n
But Arsenal were gifted back the lead in the 49th minute when a dreadful mix-up between Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris and defender Cristian Romero allowed Jesus the easiest of tap-ins.<\/p>\n
Royal was then red-carded in the 62nd minute for a needless kick out at Martinelli deep in Arsenal’s half, and five minutes later Xhaka swept in Arsenal’s third to leave Tottenham reeling.<\/p>\n
There was a celebratory mood around the stadium after that as Arsenal moved to 21 points.<\/p>\n
Previously unbeaten Tottenham could have gone top with a win but have now managed only one victory in their last 30 league visits to Arsenal. They are third with 17 points.<\/p>\n
Tottenham will complain about the harsh decision to send off Royal, but they can have no complaints about the result as they again underperformed away at their fierce rivals.<\/p>\n
They have lost five of their last six league matches away to Arsenal despite finishing above them for the past six seasons.<\/p>\n
“From the first second I think we were the better team,” Xhaka said. “After we conceded we were struggling a little bit, but in the second half we were much better, and I am so happy to score my first derby goal and help the team to win.”<\/p>\n
A typically frantic start to the game saw Gabriel Martinelli hit the outside of the post for Arsenal while at the other end fellow Brazilian Richarlison was denied by Aaron Ramsdale.<\/p>\n
Partey was an injury doubt ahead of the game but produced a moment of stunning quality to put his side in front.<\/p>\n
Ben White rolled the ball across to him outside the area and the Ghana midfielder curled a right-footer beyond Lloris’s dive.<\/p>\n
Tottenham looked dangerous on the counter-attack and Ivan Perisic lashed a good chance wide shortly before Richarlison was fouled in the area by Gabriel.<\/p>\n
From the penalty spot, Kane calmly beat Ramsdale down the middle for a record-extending 15th goal in the north London derby and 44th in London derbies overall, taking him past Thierry Henry’s record of 43.<\/p>\n
For a while Arsenal were rattled and Tottenham looked increasingly confident, but everything changed after the interval.<\/p>\n
Tottenham began the second half in sloppy fashion, and when Bukayo Saka fired in a shot, Lloris parried it out to Romero who bundled the ball back towards his keeper, only for it to squirm out of the Frenchman’s grasp just enough for Jesus to convert.<\/p>\n
It was a sweet moment for the Brazilian, whose fifth goal of the season sent a reminder to his national side’s manager Tite, who left him out of the squad last month.<\/p>\n
Tottenham then imploded after Royal’s sending off, and Arsenal’s Xhaka, back in his home crowd’s favour again, beat Lloris with a low shot after a Martinelli dribble, persuading a trickle of Tottenham fans to begin heading home early.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Source: Bahrain News Agency<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
London, Arsenal meted out their usual punishment to north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur at The Emirates with Thomas Partey, Gabriel Jesus and Granit Xhaka all on target in a 3-1 win to stay top of the Premier League on Saturday. Spurs’ Emerson Royal only added to the visitors’ misery when he was sent off in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n