Gabriel Jesus marked his first north London derby with a aim as Arsenal beat 10-man Tottenham 3-1 on Saturday to strengthen its grip on first place within the Premier League.
Jesus took benefit of a defensive blunder to make it 2-1 early within the second half and Tottenham’s possibilities of a comeback have been then ruined by Emerson Royal incomes a straight crimson card for a useless studs-up problem on Gabriel Martinelli within the 62nd minute.
Granit Xhaka rapidly capitalized on the man-advantage by including the third aim 5 minutes later as Arsenal constructed a four-point hole to Spurs and Manchester Metropolis atop the desk. Tottenham would have climbed above Arsenal into first with a win, however as an alternative noticed its 13-game unbeaten run within the league stretching again to final season come to an finish.
Metropolis can climb again inside one level of Arsenal with a win over crosstown rival Manchester United on Sunday.
Jesus scored 95 objectives in six seasons at Man Metropolis — however by no means netted within the Manchester derby.
“To be trustworthy it’s the second time I scored in a derby. The primary was for Brazil towards Argentina,” Jesus instructed BT Sport. “We deserved to win, I don’t know what number of possibilities we created.”
Arsenal took the lead on the Emirates Stadium by a spectacular strike from midfielder Thomas Partey, who curled in a long-distance shot previous Hugo Lloris within the twentieth following a robust begin by the hosts. Arsenal largely dominated possession within the first half as Tottenham was content material to take a seat again and await counter-attacking alternatives. That technique paid off on the half-hour mark when Bukayo Saka turned the ball over and the guests launched a fast counter that ended with Arsenal giving freely a penalty as defender Gabriel lunged in to journey Richarlison within the space.
Harry Kane despatched the spot kick straight down the center to equalize.
However Arsenal was again in entrance shortly after the restart. Saka broke in from the appropriate and fired a low shot that Lloris might solely parry straight out in entrance of him. Defender Cristian Romero tried to play the ball again to his goalkeeper however the susceptible Lloris couldn’t accumulate the ball, which snuck beneath his physique — permitting Jesus to poke it into an empty web.
It was Jesus’ fifth league aim since becoming a member of Arsenal within the offseason and he might have had one other a couple of minutes later when he headed simply extensive after a cross from the appropriate.
The normally feisty derby fixture had been surprisingly void of robust challenges and fouls, with not a single participant getting booked within the first half. However Royal modified that when the raked his studs down the again of Martinelli’s calf — a very useless problem because the Brazilian was operating towards his personal aim alongside the sideline properly inside his personal half.
Referee Anthony Taylor confirmed a straight crimson, which successfully ended Spurs’ resistance.
Martinelli then arrange Xhaka to attain the third aim with a low shot contained in the far publish and Tottenham supervisor Antonio Conte conceded defeat as he made a quadruple substitution shortly afterward — taking off forwards Richarlison and Son Heung-min — with one eye on Tuesday’s Champions League recreation at Eintracht Frankfurt.
“The crimson card ended the sport,” Conte mentioned.
It was Xhaka’s first aim within the north London derby as properly.
“From the primary second I feel we have been the higher staff,” the Swiss midfielder mentioned. “After we conceded we have been struggling somewhat bit, however within the second half we have been significantly better.”
Arsenal now has seven wins within the first eight matches to strengthen its standing as a correct title challenger, having completed fifth final season.
This story has been printed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content.