Arsenal bounced back from Erik Lamela’s stunning Rabona to open the scoring in the north London derby to beat Tottenham 2-1 on Sunday, as Manchester United and Leicester tightened their grip on a top-four finish in the Premier League.
United edged out fifth-placed West Ham 1-0 thanks to Craig Dawson’s own goal to remain a point ahead of Leicester, who thrashed bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United 5-0.
On a costly afternoon for Spurs’ hopes of a top-four finish, Tottenham also lost Son Heung-min to a hamstring injury at the Emirates, while Lamela went from hero to villain for the visitors with a needless second-half red card.
Arsenal’s afternoon did not start well with captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang dropped to the bench for a breach of discipline, reportedly after turning up late for the squad’s pre-match meeting.
Lamela was introduced to replace Son early on and the Argentine opened the scoring in sensational style against the run of play as he wrapped his left foot around his right to fire into the bottom corner.
Emile Smith Rowe and Cedric Soares hit the woodwork either side of Lamela’s strike but the hosts finally got their reward for a dominant first-half performance when Martin Odegaard’s shot deflected in off Toby Alderweireld for his first Premier League goal.
“I think we played really bad in the first half,” said Spurs boss Jose Mourinho. “The 1-1 was not a fair reflection of the first half. We were poor, defending bad, no intensity, no pressing, some important players hiding.”
