Arsenal held on for a pulsating 3-2 victory over arch-rivals Tottenham in the north London derby to maintain their grip on top spot in the Premier League on Sunday. In a bid to stay one step ahead of Manchester City in the title race, Mikel Arteta's side silenced the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before half-time with a three-goal stunner. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's own goal put Arsenal ahead before Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz scored, putting Arsenal in full control. Cristian Romero and Son Heung-min struck for Tottenham after the break to set up a nervy finish, but Arsenal held on by their fingertips.
Arsenal are four points clear of second-placed City, who face struggling Nottingham Forest later on Sunday in the first of two games won against the Gunners.
City will win an unprecedented fourth consecutive English title if they win their last five games.
But Arsenal are doing everything they can to make Pep Guardiola's team sweat as they try to make up for their eight-point lead in last season's title race.
“I was praying (at the end),” Arteta said. “So many Spurs balls in our penalty area. It was a very emotional game in a great atmosphere against a very good team.”
After the despair of a damaging home defeat to Aston Villa and a Champions League quarter-final exit against Bayern Munich, the Gunners have bounced back in impressive fashion.
Aware that they have little margin for error with City chasing them, Arteta had called on his players to show their hunger for success and they responded to his challenge.
Beating old foes Chelsea 5-0 on Tuesday was just the appetizer before Arsenal presented the 3,000 cheering fans in a corner of the stadium.
Arsenal won the league twice at Tottenham's old White Hart Lane stadium, in 1971 and 2004.
The Gunners were unable to capture silverware on enemy territory this time, but their fifth win in the last seven north London derbies kept them in the hunt to win the title for the first time in 20 years.
The defeat was a bitter blow for fifth-placed Tottenham, who are seven points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa with two games remaining to keep their fading hopes of Champions League qualification alive.
“We gave them far too easy access to our goal. It is unacceptable at this level and we paid a price for it against a very good team,” said Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou.
Arsenal came from a hectic start to take the lead in the 15th minute.
Saka's corner curled into the six-yard box, where Hojbjerg tried to head it clear of Arsenal's Takehiro Tomiyasu, but instead diverted the ball into his own net.
Romero should have equalized when Arsenal keeper David Raya misjudged James Maddison's free-kick, allowing the defender to rise for a close-range header that he somehow guided against the post instead of into the empty target.
Micky van de Ven thought he had leveled Tottenham when he struck home after Pedro Porro's shot went into his path, but VAR intervened and ruled the centre-back marginally offside.
Arteta's men celebrated the decision as if they had scored themselves and that was exactly what they did in the 27th minute.
Havertz made an excellent long pass to Saka on the right flank and the winger drove to Ben Davies before cutting inside to beat Guglielmo Vicario with a clinical low strike from twelve yards.
Arsenal were ruthless in front of goal and Havertz grabbed the third in the 38th minute with a well-worked corner.
As Tottenham took up zone marking positions, a group of Arsenal players, including Havertz, were left unmarked as they made late runs into the area, giving the German space to finish Declan Rice's corner with a close-range header.
But Tottenham refused to throw in the towel and Romero reduced the deficit in the 64th minute, using Raya's comically poor pass to fire home from the edge of the penalty area.
Rice set up the unnecessarily tense final for Arsenal with a rash foul on Davies, conceding a penalty which Son drilled past Raya in the 87th minute.
In Sunday's other early kick-off, Bournemouth defeated Brighton 3-0 with goals from Marcos Senesi, Enes Unai and Justin Kluivert.
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