Unbeaten records survive trial by derby as Spurs peg back Arsenal twice
Arsenal (1) 2 Romero og 26, Saka (pen) 54
Tottenham (1) 2 Son 42, 55
North London is theirs. Both of them.
Arsenal did their best to inflict another defeat on the old enemy at the Emirates as they often do - Spurs have only won once now in 31 attempts in this corner of the capital, the last time in 2010. But in the end, Tottenham bounced back twice to claim a share of the spoils.
Heung-Min Son's double cancelled out an own goal from Cristian Romero and a penalty from Bukayo Saka. Both sides had spells on top but neither could land the killer blow.
Both will know that they are capable of serving up some impressive football this season but it feels like Man City remain a notch above two sides with some defensive flaws waiting in the wings to undermine their respective ambitions.
Ange Postecoglou arrived dressed as if for a funeral - all sombre suit and black tie - and the opening half hour suggested the mourning might turn out to be for his own team.
They found themselves struggling to cope with the Gunners' relentless pressing and might easily have found themselves more than a goal down before they finally asserted themselves.
Son got to a near-post pullback from the byline by James Maddison to steer the ball in off the far post to restore parity before the break, not long after a flowing move had almost made it 1-1.
Only a superb save from David Raya, scampering to his right, had prevented Brennan Johnson from converting a cross from an overlapping Son after good work from Dejan Kulusevski.
The Gunners were left cursing an inability to add to their 26th minute opener which came when Saka cut in from the right edge of the area and let fly with an off-target shot that Romero helpfully guided into his own net.
Gabriel Jesus had already forced Guglielmo Vicario into a fine save from an angled effort, and Eddie Nketiah almost profited from a misplaced backpass by Destiny Udogie, while Jesus ought to have put away a simple chance after picking Maddison's pocket in the penalty area, but he snatched at the chance, blazing over.
Arsenal regained the lead early in the second half when VAR alerted ref Robert Jones to Romero handling a shot from Ben White almost on the line and Saka converted coolly from the spot.
But within a minute it was level pegging once more when Jorginho - on for a presumably-injured Declan Rice at the break - was caught by Maddison dithering on the ball and a simple ball forward to Son gave the South Korean an easy tap-in.
It felt even after that and not even 10 added minutes were going to make a difference.
Gunners (4-3-3) Raya - White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko - Odegaard, Rice (Jorginho h/t), Vieira (Havertz h/t) - Saka (Smith Rowe 90), Jesus (Nelson 78), Nketiah
Spurs (4-2-3-1) Vicario - Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Udogie, Sarr, Bissouma - Kulusevski, Maddison (Hojbjerg 78), Son (Richarlison 78) - Johnson (Solomon 63)
