Arsenal sent a thunderous message to their doubters yesterday, tearing Tottenham apart 4-1 on their own patch to keep that five point lead at the top nice and healthy.
All that nonsense about bottling? Forget it. Mikel Arteta’s men turned the north London derby into a procession, with Viktor Gyokeres bagging a brace and Eberechi Eze also helping himself to a couple.
The first half had Spurs dreaming. Eze slid one home on 32 minutes, only for Randal Kolo Muani to poke one back two minutes later. Game on? Not for long.
Whatever Arteta said in that dressing room at half time worked a treat. Gyokeres smashed one home two minutes after the restart, and from there it was one way traffic. Eze made it three before the Swede added gloss in stoppage time.
Make that two 4-1 derby wins this season. The Double over Spurs is always sweet, doing it in style like this? Pure nectar.
LATE DRAMA ELSEWHERE
Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner can breathe again after Evann Guessand’s 90th minute winner beat 10 man Wolves. Ladislav Krejci saw red on the hour, and Palace finally made the numbers count through Tyrick Mitchell’s late assist.
Fulham strolled past Sunderland 3-1, with Raul Jimenez bagging a brace and Alex Iwobi adding gloss. Enzo Le Fee’s penalty was mere consolation.
SATURDAY’S FALLOUT
Nico O’Reilly bagged two as City kept the pressure on with a 2-1 win over Newcastle, Lewis Hall scoring for the visitors. That’s now two points separating the top two.
Aston Villa needed a 90th minute Tammy Abraham equaliser to salvage a point against Leeds after Anton Stach’s gorgeous free kick had the visitors dreaming.
Chelsea chucked away two points at the Bridge. Joao Pedro’s early strike looked enough until Zian Flemming’s 93rd minute header. To make matters worse, Wesley Fofana saw red on 72 minutes.
James Milnotched his 654th Prem appearance as Brighton won 2-0 at Brentford. Diego Gomez and Danny Welbeck did the damage in the first half.
West Ham and Bournemouth served up a forgettable 0-0, leaving the Hammers stuck in the bottom three.
