Alexandre Lacazette and Lucas Torreira scored for Unai Emery's side after the Gabon international bagged the equaliser
IT’S brawl over.
Arsenal are top dogs again, snapping and snarling their way to supremacy in north London with this crazy victory.
They put four past Tottenham, putting their bitter rivals back in their place with an aggressive, physical, powerful performance.
Spurs played their part in that too, down to 10 men for the final five minutes after Jan Vertonghen was sent off.
This was old-fashioned and very English, with eight yellows shared between these two warring sides, plus the red for Vertonghen.
Both defences took the afternoon off.
Pierre Emerick Aubameyang scored goals one and two for Arsenal, with Alexandre Lacazette and Lucas Torreira finising Spurs off.
Somewhere in between all that, Eric Dier had made it 1-1 and Harry Kane made it 2-1 from the spot before Arsenal came back into it.
This was powerkeg stuff, with passions running high between these two north London clubs.
It was a crazy, chaotic game.
The Emirates, finally, was raucous, with Arsenal supporters leaping up on to railings to celebrate Emerick-Aubameyang’s 56th minute leveller.
Defeat was not an option for Arsenal.
To lose to Tottenham, to be beaten in their own backyard by Poch’s team, would have been too much for some.
Not quite poisonous enough for a fly-by at Old Trafford on Wednesday, but there a few groans into the soy lattes this morning.
This game was running on caffeine, speeding along after Aubameyang scored Arsenal’s opening goal.
Emery’s players were high on energy and enthusiasm, tearing in to these Tottenham players and taking the time away from them.
Spurs could not handle the pace, conceding a soft penalty just 10 minutes in when Vertonghen handballed at a corner under pressure from Shkodran Mustafi.
Aubameyang scored from the spot, giving Spurs fans the bird by celebrating wildly in front of them.
Beyond that, it was difficult for celebrity ref Mike Dean to keep order.
He lives for days like this.
Spurs stirred, with Saed Kolasinac pinching the ball off Christian Eriksen’s toes on the edge of the area.
Poch’s players were starting to show.
They got their goal after half an hour, equalising after that liability Sokratis chopped Son out wide.
Eriksen, brilliant against Chelsea and impressive against Inter when he leaped off the bench, engineered the goal.
By MARK HALSEY
MIKE DEAN should not be blamed for giving Tottenham’s Son Heung-Min a penalty.
Arsenal defender Rob Holding went to ground inside the penalty box — and when you do that, you run the risk of conceding a spot-kick. In real time it looked a penalty.
People should not criticise Mike, they should be criticising Holding.
The difficult aspect of the incident for Mike was just how much contact was there from Holding on Son? I don’t think there was any. But it’s a decision that has divided opinion.
It will be interesting to see if there is any retrospective disciplinary action.
This sort of case seems exactly why the FA set up the panel to review incidents of successful deception of a match official.
Eric Dier celebrated in front of the Arsenal fans when he scored, copying what Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang did. I don’t think either player has done anything wrong.
I felt Dele Alli and Stephan Lichtsteiner inflamed the situation, not Dier. The pair of them should have been cautioned.
But I expect both clubs to be charged by the FA for failing to control their players.
Jan Vertonghen was sent off for two cautions, the second on Alexandre Lacazette.
He could easily have been sent off for the challenge — which was late and made with excessive force on Lacazette’s ankle.
And Vertonghen is lucky he will only serve one game for two cautions as opposed to three games for serious foul play.
Vertonghen was booked after handling for Arsenal’s penalty. The spot-kick was enough and Mike could have avoided the caution on top.
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His free-kick was met by Eric Dier at the near post and his clever run was rewarded with the Spurs equaliser.
Beyond that it was bedlam.
Dier silenced the Arsenal fans, ordering them to keep schtum by pressing his finger to his lips as he ran towards the corner flag.
It led to some chaotic scenes, with both benches sprinting down the touchline to control their warring players.
The truce lasted four minutes.
Tottenham scored again, taking the lead when Son went down under the challenge of Rob Holding. It was as soft as they come.
Kane readied himself, taking his time before planting his penalty kick beyond Bernd Leno.
Arsenal were losing it, with Mustafi taking chunks out of Kane and Son in separate challenges. He earned his booking.
So did Granit Xhaka, shown a yellow card for whacking Dele at the start of the second half.
When they regained composure, Arsenal took control.
Aubameyang got his second of the game, with Lloris just admiring his effort from the edge of the area 56 minutes in.
Bellerin played a delightful ball through Tottenham’s defence for Ramsey to square into the path of their main man.
It was a quality finish.
The momentum was with Arsenal, with their fans demanding a winner against their big rivals.
Mustafi had an effort cleaed off the line and then Torreira’s follow up flew over the crossbar.
Arsenal were up for this.
They took the lead again after 74 minutes when Alexandre Lacazette beat Lloris with a left-footed effort.
Emery had sent him on with Ramsey at the break, a bold move that could easily have backfired.
Instead it went their way.
Juan Foyth’s failure to clear on the halfway line was ready by Ramsey and he pinged it out to Lacazette.
The Arsenal forward wrong-footed Tottenham’s defence before beating Lloris off his left foot.
Arsenal were not finished.
They got another when Aubameyang’s good work was rewarded with Torreira’s goal to finish off this dery.
Spurs lost it, with Vertonghen sent off for a second booking five minutes from time when he nobbled Lacazette.
This was Arsenal’s day, a throwback to the days when nobody pushed them around inside their own home.
Close your eyes for a moment and listen to the animated Arsenal fans, you half expected to see Patrick Vieira and that crowd out there.
Instead the new breed are taking shape under the guidance of their new coach.
Finally, Arsenal have a bit of fight about them.
