Wild north London derby ends even as Tottenham peg back Arsenal

Another big day for Heung-min Son, who trails only Erling Haaland on the Premier League season’s goals list and has passed some huge names already this season on the career chart (Scholes, Drogba, Ronaldo...).

No surprise to see Bukayo Saka driving the attack for Arsenal on what’s been rated a disappointing day for the Gunners’ midfield.

Arsenal vs Tottenham player ratings (fotmob.com)

Great entertainment, as always, in the 194th north London derby.

Tottenham fought back really well and Arsenal just couldn’t grab control of the game once Declan Rice went off at half time.

Ange Postecoglou will be very happy with that point. Mikel Arteta will not.

Declan Rice has been a huge miss for Arsenal.

Spurs look the most likely to win this now.

Wow. Less than 1 minute after going behind, Tottenham are level.

Jorginho is caught on the ball and Maddison breaks, plays it to Son who slots home.

Bedlam in the away end. What a derby.

Bukayo Saka slots home the penalty kick, then hits the darts celebration again.

After a VAR review, the referee used the monitor to give the penalty. It seemed a bit harsh.

The ball clearly hits Romero on the hand but that was from very close distance and deflected off Maddison. 2-1 to Arsenal.

The ball is smashed against Romero’s arm from 5 yards out.

VAR checking for a penalty kick.

We are back underway for the second half but the big news is that Declan Rice is off for Arsenal.

Jorginho is on in his place.

Rice is on the bench in a jacket and doesn’t look best pleased. Let’s see what Mikel Arteta will have to say about that.

That was a north London derby which ebbed and flowed wonderfully.

Arsenal went ahead through Saka and looked very dangerous and should have extended their lead through Gabriel Jesus.

But Spurs fought back valiantly and were always a threat, and they grabbed a deserved equalizer through Son with Maddison the architect.

Well then. This is very interesting just before half time. And it was coming.

A harmless cross into the box should have been pushed out for a corner by David Raya but instead he pushes it back in play.

Maddison picks up the loose ball, beats Saka and finds Son to finish. Bedlam in the away end and Spurs deserve that equalizer.

1-1. Game on!

David Raya comes up with a big save to deny Spurs. That looked like a certain equalizer.

Son pulls it back for Brennan Johnson and he looks certain to score but Raya pushes it away.

James Maddison is robbed of the ball by Gabriel Jesus on the edge of his own box and the Arsenal goalkeeper is clean through, 12 yards out, but he blasts over the bar.

The home fans can’t believe it.

Arsenal should be 2-0 up. Jesus knows it.

There it is.

Bukayo Saka cuts in from the left and his left footed effort is on target but probably isn’t going to trouble Vicario.

However, Cristian Romero sticks his leg out and the ball flies of his knee and into the opposite top corner.

An awful moment for Romero. The home fans go wild. 1-0 to the Arsenal!

This is very lively now.

Vicario does superbly to deny both Jesus and Nketiah, as the latter chance came after a poor pass from Udogie.

Speaking of Udogie, he caught Saka with a late challenge and was booked and then Odegaard was also booked for his reaction. It is getting spicy early on. Lovely stuff.

North London derby day is always epic but this one feels even bigger than usual.

Here are my thoughts right before kick off at Emirates Stadium.

We are underway and it is noisy!

Tottenham have had the ball in the back of the net early but Son was offside as he tapped home after a corner was only half cleared.

Promising start for the visiting side.

Leandro Trossard is out with a ‘slight muscle issue’ while Gabriel Jesus comes in for the injured Gabriel Martinelli.

The team news is in for Spurs and Brennan Johnson is in for his first start.

He plays up top and replaces Solomon in the lineup. This is some attacking quartet for Spurs.

This is all very fresh and exciting and Ange Postecoglou has dealt with the loss of Harry Kane incredibly well.

Spurs are a free-flowing attacking unit with the trio of Son, Maddison and Kulusevski pulling the strings.

However, they are also solid in midfield with Bissouma and Sarr developing a great partnership in the engine room. Spurs also have the benefit of having a full week off ahead of this game as they’re not in European action this season. Don’t underestimate how important that will be them for this season.

Injury wise they were dealt a blow as Ivan Perisic has suffered an ACL injury and will be out for most of the season. Bryan Gil, Ryan Sessegnon and Rodrigo Bentancur remain out until late next month, at the earliest, while Gio Lo Celso is battling back from a thigh injury.

Mikel Arteta has been mixing things up quite superbly in terms of his team selection and the Gunners squad looks a lot stronger than last season.

His decision to start Raya over Ramsdale is a big call and we will see if the latter comes in to start against Spurs at the weekend. Declan Rice has been sublime in midfield and the balance of this Arsenal side looks very good right now.

Injury wise, Jurrien Timber remains out after knee surgery and Gabriel Martinelli is in a battle to be fit after suffering a hamstring problem in the win at Everton. Thomas Partey remains out until mid-October.