Son Heung-min’s double saw Tottenham twice fight back to draw 2-2 at Arsenal in a North London derby thriller at Emirates Stadium.
Saka initially put Arsenal in front from Cristian Romeo’s deflection of his 26th minute shot which later went down as an own-goal for Romero, before Son equalised for Tottenham with a neat flicked 42nd minute shot from James Maddison’s pullback pass.
Romero once again gifted Arsenal the lead after half-time as he handballed Ben White’s shot in the 50th minute, which led Saka to put away the resulting penalty four minutes later.
Arsenal however couldn’t hold onto their second lead of the match as Maddison intercepted substitute, Jorginho just one minute later and teed up Son to again flick in Spurs’ second equaliser in an eventual draw.
Wins for Liverpool and Brighton over West Ham and Bournemouth by 3-1 results respectively elsewhere meant that Arsenal and Tottenham slipped to fifth and fourth in the table with their draw.
With both North London clubs sat fourth and second respectively coming into this game, it was little surprise that both clubs came out fighting early on, as Tottenham almost drew first blood in the third minute.
Brennan Johnson’s shot was deflected over and from the subsequent corner, Yves Bissouma intercepted the clearance and aimed for the bottom-left corner but his shot was flicked in by Son, only for the South Korea international to had made his touch from an offside position.
Arsenal quickly responded and almost took a 14th minute lead as Saka whipped in a cross from the right, only for Gabriel Jesus to rifle wide across the face of goal.
Pape Matar Sarr then put two shots for Spurs wide before Arsenal broke forward in the 26th minute, as Martin Odegaard played a sideway pass for Saka who curled towards the far-left corner but Romero deflected his shot into the near-right corner to put the Gunners ahead.
Arsenal almost doubled their lead six minutes later as Jesus intercepted a poor pass from Guglielmo Vicario, but the Brazilian could only rifle his shot over the bar before Vicario saved Odegaard’s 37th minute curled effort towards the top-right corner.
Up the other end, Tottenham forced David Raya into action in the space of two minutes with scrappy fingertip saves to deny Johnson.
Raya however couldn’t keep Spurs at bay in the 42nd minute as Sarr unleashed a long shot which the Spaniard flapped down for Johnson, but made another fingertip block which fell for Maddison who found Son on the pullback to flick into the right cornr to restore parity.
Arsenal almost reclaimed the lead on the stroke of half-time as Rice picked up a pass but rifled over from almost 30 yards, as Spurs clung on to keep the score level at the break.
Arsenal’s manager, Mikel Arteta however made two surprise changes at half-time as Rice and Fabio Vieira were substituted for Jorginho and Kai Havertz, although Rice’s substitution was down to a left calf injury in a first-half incident.
Their absence however didn’t faze Arsenal initially as the Gunners won a 50th minute penalty, after Romero handballed White’s on-turn shot from a corner-kick which found the defender inside the box.
Referee, Robert Jones and Video-Assistant Referee (VAR) however took two minutes to determine that Romero’s handball was deliberate, which led Saka to step up in the 54th minute and dispatch the penalty down the middle for his second goal of the match.
Tottenham however mounted an immediate response just over a minute later as Maddison and Son again combined, as the summer signing intercepted Jorginho and fed Son through into the box to flick across Raya into the far bottom-left corner to stun the home crowd.
Son’s second goal was his 150th goal in 378 appearances for Tottenham in all competitions.
Spurs howevr were dealt an injury blow on the hour mark as Johnson’s first start since he joined on Deadline Day from Nottingham Forest came to an early end, with the 22 year-old substituted due to a potential hamstring injury.
Both teams thereafter pushed for a late winner but it was Arsenal who went closest twice as substitute, Reiss Nelson saw a shot deflected over in the 85th minute, whilst Havertz rifled over the top-left corner two minutes later unmarked.
Saka saw a 92nd minute low shot towards the bottom-left corner blocked by Vicario via Sarr’s initial deflection as Arsenal continued to dominate the closing minutes.
Neither team ultimately could break the deadlock as the full-time whistle fell and dropped to fourth and fifth respectively following wins for Liverpool and Brighton elsewhere.
What’s Next?
Arsenal face another London derby as Mikel Arteta’s Gunners visit Brentford on Wednesday 27 September at 7:45pm BST in a Third Round clash in this season’s Carabao Cup, before they head to Bournemouth on Saturday 30 September (3pm) in their next league match.
Tottenham – who are already out of the Carabao Cup – host fellow title challengers, Liverpool at home at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday 30 September, in a 5:30pm BST kick-off live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Teams
Arsenal: David Raya, Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Declan Rice (Jorginho 45′), Fabio Vieira (Havertz 45′), Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka (Smith Rowe 90+7′), Gabriel Jesus (Nelson 78′), Eddie Nketiah
Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Cedric Soares, Takhiro Tomiyasu, Jakub Kiwior, Jorginho, Mohamed Elneny, Emile Smith Rowe, Reiss Nelson, Kai Havertz
Tottenham: Guglielmo Vicario, Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie, Yves Bissouma, Pape Matar Sarr, James Maddison (Hojbjerg 78′), Dejan Kulusevski, Son Heung-min (Richarlison 79′), Brennan Johnson (Solomon 63′)
Substitutes: Fraser Forster, Emerson Royal, Eric Dier, Ben Davies, Oliver Skipp, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Manor Solomon, Richarlison, Alejo Veliz
Referee: Robert Jones
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