LODNON — Tottenham beat Arsenal 2-0 to return to the top of English Premier League table standings in the North London derby on Sunday.
Arsenal have collected just one win in seven games and are still stuck in the bottom half of the table.
First half goals from Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane did the trick for Spurs, who welcome 2,000 fans back inside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the Week 11 encounter.
“It’s fantastic, this is exactly what we set out for,” Kane told to Sky Sports. “The second was a bit of a grind, we defended well, they didn’t create too many clear-cut chances. We are delighted with the win.
“It’s nice [to be the all-time leading north London derby scorer]. It was a great assist from Son, and it was nice to see it go in. But the most important thing is the three points.
“It’s been a tough few games and we’ve come out of it well. We’ve got to keep it going now.”
Jose Mourinho side took the lead after 13-minutes when the in-form Son finished brilliantly to complete a classic Mourinho counter-attacking style of football.
The South Korean collected a pass from Harry Kane in midfield, carried the ball down the left side and then whipped home a curling shot from outside the 18-yard box past Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno for 1-0.
Following the goal, Arsenal dominated the possession again, but it was Tottenham which found a way to score.
Spurs double the lead on the stroke of halftime when Son turned the provider for his strike partner – slipping Kane with a pass for the England striker to fire home past Leno off the other side of the crossbar.
Midfielder Thomas Partey, who only just returned from injury, was heavily criticized after he stepped off the pitch in the build-up to Tottenham’s goal instead of staying put to help with the counter or going down on the pitch to draw the attention of the referee or his teammates.
He was seen ripping off his shirt as he heads straight down the tunnel with what could very well be a recurrence of the injury which had kept him out for a while.
Tottenham returned to the top of the Premier League standings with 24 points, two more than overnight leaders Chelsea.
Arsenal had a lot of possession throughout the encounter and completely dominated the second half. They were able to restrict Tottenham’s counter-attacks after halftime, Mourinho side had already done the damage.
They were left with nothing to show for it, and sit 15th in the EPL standings on 13 points.
The Gunners had 44 crosses against Tottenham today, the most so far under Mikel Arteta, and by far the most by a Premier League team in any game this season.
However, the visitors had no goals to show for it.
