Tottenham 1 Arsenal 0: Harry Kane's 101st Premier League goal seals north London derby Wembley win for Spurs

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James Benge11 February 2018

Harry Kane heaped further misery on Arsenal as he fired Tottenham to a 1-0 north London derby win at Wembley.

Kane, who had said earlier this week that being rejected by Arsenal as an eight-year-old was “the best thing to ever happen to me”, proved how wrong the Gunners had been as he scored his seventh goal in seven Premier League games against Tottenham’s local rivals.

Victory propelled Mauricio Pochettino’s into third, while for Arsenal the gap to the Champions League places looks ominous at six points before Liverpool and Chelsea play their games in hand.

Arsene Wenger, without the injured Aaron Ramsey (groin), opted to flood a midfield in which Mohamed Elneny and Granit Xhaka were to be the first line of defence. It was when that was breached that the problems came, not least due to Shkodran Mustafi’s cavalier approach to his defensive duties.

After only nine minutes, the German was caught out of position chasing a ball that was clearly Harry Kane’s. As Spurs burst down the left Mustafi charged back, connecting with Dele Alli’s cross and forcing a fine save from Petr Cech.

After a breathless first quarter Arsenal managed to slow the game down, bar a flurry of chances just after the half hour. Kane, who had only once failed to find the net in a north London derby, should have opened the scoring when, played on by Koscielny, he met Christian Eriksen’s pin-point cross but flicked an unmarked header some way over Cech’s bar.

The pressure did not ease up: Mousa Dembele sliced a corner back into the area; Eric Dier stuck out a boot, but he could not divert his effort goalwards from close range.

Early on Arsenal’s counters, spearheaded by the explosive Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, had given Spurs cause for concern. The Gunners’ record signing looked to be through on goal after a surgical through ball by Jack Wilshere but, by the slightest of margins, he was correctly adjudged to be offside.

As the second half wore on the visitors’ attempts to counter grew ever more ragged, Cech punting the ball to no-one in particular and Mesut Ozil trying impossible passes that served only to invite further pressure on his defence.

Aubameyang gave Tottenham trouble on the counter in the first period
Action Images via Reuters

Arsenal had been fortuitous to reach the interval level. Their luck would not hold. After only four minutes of the second period Kane rose commandingly over Koscielny, flicking a Ben Davies cross into the bottom corner.

He nearly repeated the trick moments later, heading a Trippier cross inches wide of the far post. Then a fearsome volley from the edge of the box was pushed to safety by Cech.

An athletic save from the 35-year-old denied Eriksen with a free-kick that was arrowing into the top corner, but it seemed only a matter of time before Spurs wrapped up this game.

But as Heung-min Son blasted over, Alli poked wide when one-on-one with Cech, as Erik Lamela spurned a chance down the right, fans sensed Arsenal might be about to claim the most undeserved of draws.

Lacazette spurned two good chances late on
AFP/Getty Images

The assault on the Spurs goal never really came though.

Aubameyang once more got in behind only to be flagged offside, an unforgivable error for a man with his searing pace.

Wilshere drew a comfortable save from Hugo Lloris, while substitute Alexandre Lacazette volleyed way over before missing a one-on-one in injury time.

But Arsenal could have no complaints as their hopes of a top four finish crumbled on the sodden Wembley turf.

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