October 1, (THEWILL) – In a thrilling North London Derby (NLD) on Saturday, goals from Gabriel Jesus and Granit Xhaka in the second half, helped Premier League leaders, Arsenal, defeat 10-man Tottenham Hotspur 3-1.
After 20 minutes, Thomas Partey scored an incredible long-range goal to reward Arsenal for their strong start, but Harry Kane quickly tied the score with a penalty. But, following a Hugo Lloris’ error, Jesus put the excellent Gunners back in ahead, and Emerson Royal’s red card ended Tottenham’s hopes of a comeback.
Then, as Mikel Arteta’s ruthless team went four points clear of Manchester City and handed their fierce rivals their first Premier League loss of the year, Xhaka hammered into the bottom-right corner to confirm the Gunners’ victory.
Since December 2007, when Nicklas Bendtner earned Arsenal a 2-1 home victory, neither team had started a North London derby in the league’s top spot and for the first time since September 2013, the Gunners have now defeated Spurs in three straight home league games.
With that victory, Arsenal now leads Spurs and Manchester City by four points at the top of the standings. They will now focus on the Europa where they face Bodo/Glimt. Spurs are still in third place despite suffering their first EPL defeat of the season. They will next visit Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Champions League.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
