We came from a goal behind to beat Tottenham Hotspur to string together three straight north London derby wins in a row for the first time since 1989, and more importantly close the gap on Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table.
Spurs threatened to claim their first win on our turf in 14 years when son Heung-min out them ahead against the run of play on 25 minutes, but we battled back and netted twice in four minutes just before the interval through a Dominic Solanke own goal and a Leandro Trossard strike.
We dominated our neighbours for the majority of the game including virtually all of the second half, but without netting a killer third goal we had to grind out the win, but it arrived to move us back into second place, and now only four points off the league leaders.
An early setback - somehow
Mikel Arteta had called for a cauldron-like atmosphere inside Emirates Stadium and he got just that during the opening stages, and pushed along by the swarths of support, we dominated the early stages.
Spurs headed into the game with one win in their last eight matches, and it showed in the fist 20 minutes. They completed just four passes in our half during that period, and indeed their keeper Antonin Kinsky had the most touches for his side, but we couldn’t turn that pressure into a goal.
Trossard came closest when he saw a goalbound shot cannon off the back of a defender after a corner wasn’t cleared, and Kinsky twice had the ball nicked from by Kai Havertz but both times possession somehow stayed with Ange Postecoglu’s side.
But after surviving the opening stages, Spurs suddenly built up a head of steam. A fine challenge from Gabriel prevented Son from converting a Djed Spence centre, and from the resulting corner David Raya made a good block to thwart Dejan Kulusevski.
However another set-piece on 24 minutes would be our undoing. A short corner was sent into a congested area by Pedro Porro, and after it was cleared to the edge of the area, Son was lurking and sent a shot back through the bodies, and aided by a deflection found the net for the eighth time in the derby.
Swift turnaround
The game became more of an even contest after that, but we kept probing and a stroke of luck saw us get level. On 38 minutes Trossard and Porro challenged for the ball on the byline and despite the ball flicking off the Belgian, we were awarded the corner - and we made the most of it.
Declan Rice swung it towards the back post where Gabriel had powered his way towards, and he got a touch on the ball which deflected off Dominic Solanke and spun into the net to get us back level and raise the decibel level in north London once again.
And it reached a crescendo four minutes later when we turned the game on its head by snatching the lead. A strong challenge by Thomas Partey won the ball on the halfway line and he found Martin Odegaard, who played a delightful pass into the galloping Trossard’s path. He took two touches to get it to the edge of the box, and drilled it low and hard past Kinsky to send the derby spinning in the opposite direction.
With the stadium bouncing and the wind in our sails, we didn’t want half-time to come, but even though we were forced to head into the changing rooms, we came back out displaying the same vigour.
Getting over the line
Havertz went close to sending another corner into the net when he nodded an Odegaard delivery just wide, and then the German headed straight at Kimsky when picked out in space by Partey.
One player enjoying his first taste of the derby was Lewis Myles-Skelly. Despite being the second-youngest Gunner to start in a Premier League north London derby, he looked assured in defence, regularly scrapping away to win possession for his side and then confidently striding forward with the ball to start attacks.
And they kept coming for the hosts but we would be denied by Kimsky twice in quick succession on 72 minutes. Rice fizzed one at him which struck him in the chest, before Odegaard swiftly followed up with a low effort which was saved by the Czech keeper.
Our skipper again went close with six minutes to go when Kieran Tierney threaded a pass to him inside the box but he screwed it wide of the mark, but with the lead intact it was just about grinding it out.
Like most of the second 45, Spurs offered little threat but in the final minute of stoppage time, Porro wrapped a shot from a tight angle off the outside the post, but we saw out the final few seconds to stretch our unbeaten league run to 11, record our fifth Premier League double over Spurs and clinch the derby day bragging rights - again.
FACTS AND STATS
We have done the Premier League double over Tottenham for a fifth time (twice under Mikel Arteta and three times under Arsene Wenger). We’ve now achieved the double four more times than Spurs in the competition, who’ve only ever done so in the inaugural season in 1992/93.
Tottenham have lost 11 league games this season; their joint-most at this stage of a single campaign in the competition. The only sides who’ve lost more this term are the three teams currently in the relegation zone (Wolves, Leicester, Southampton).
This was the 11th time the team scoring first in the north London derby in the Premier League have gone on to lose, with seven of those being by Tottenham.
We have scored 26 goals from corners in the Premier League since the start of last season; the most of any team. Four of those have been netted against Spurs, which is also the most corner goals a team have scored against a specific opponent in this period.
Son Heung-min has now scored eight Premier League goals against us, with only former teammate Harry Kane (14) ever netting more in north London derbies in the competition.
Dominic Solanke’s own goal was the sixth that Tottenham have scored against us in the Premier League, with this the third successive season in which they’ve put through their own net against us.
In the form of Myles Lewis-Skelly, Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall, this was the first time as many as three players aged 18 or younger were named as starters in a north London derby in the Premier League.
What's next
Our run of home matches continues as Aston Villa head to N5 on Saturday for a 5.30pm kick-off, and then the Champions League returns in a week's time when Dinamo Zagreb arrive on matchday seven of the competition. We follow that up with a trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, January 25.
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