Arsenal stun 10-men Spurs in thrilling derby

In a North London derby that justified the hype, Arsenal came from behind to beat 10-man Tottenham 4-2, helped by two goals from goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Victory was little more than the Gunners deserved, but having gone 2-1 down thanks to a controversial penalty, they clawed their way back with three goals in the second half before Tottenham’s Jan Vertonghen was dismissed for a second caution.

This is pantomime season of course, and every good panto needs a villain. Enter stage left referee Mike Dean, who has never endeared himself to Arsenal fans.

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AS IT HAPPENED: Arsenal v Tottenham

The Wirral official gave a soft penalty against the Gunners at West Brom last season, which prompted Arsene Wenger to label dean “a disgrace”, comments that saw him receive a three-match ban.

Fans’ antagonism goes back further than that, as in 2012 he was widely accused of celebrating Louis Saha’s opener for Tottenham in the North London Derby at the Emirates.

Dean was again accused of celebrating a goal for Spurs in 2015, this time against Aston Villa, where he allowed an advantage and, after they scored, he was accused of an over-enthusiastic gesture as he pointed to the centre circle, which Gunners’ fans felt was a fist-pump.

The fact that he has given more penalties against Arsenal than for them in his career has also raised the Gunners fans’ ire, and he again sparked further controversy when awarding a penalty to Spurs that looked anything but.

Gunners fans appeared to have every reason to feel miffed. Dean was in a poor position to give it and was way behind play, yet when he saw Son Hueng-Min fall over under the challenge of Rob Holding in the 33rd minute, he had no hesitation and pointed to the spot.

It almost proved a big turning point, as Harry Kane fired Spurs in front form the penalty, turning the game on its head in four first-half minutes.

The turnaround came completely against the run of play. Arsenal were out of the traps in a hurry and dominated Mauricio Pochettino’s jaded side in the opening exchanges.

They drew first blood when a mistake from Serge Aurier’s error was pounced upon by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and the Spurs full-back gave away a needless foul, bringing the Arsenal man down.

From the resulting free-kick, Shkodran Mustafi looked poised to get his head to the ball, only for Jan Vertonghen to stick up an arm. It was a clear handball and after Dean awarded a yellow card, Aubameyang sent Hugo Lloris the wrong way from the spot after 10 minutes.

Alex Iwobi almost made it 2-0 but was denied by Lloris’s feet and Hector Bellerin saw a goal-bound shot blocked.

For all their dominance, Arsenal failed to take a few more half-chances and were punished on the half-hour mark when Christian Eriksen’s whipped-in free kick was headed home by Eric Dier, who was left unmarked. Dier ran over to celebrate in front of the Arsenal fans, which sparked the Arsenal substitutes bench into something of a playground bundle and Spurs’ boss Pochettino had to step in to calm the situation.

Arsenal were stunned when Kane put Spurs in front, but the introduction of Aaron Ramsey at half-time proved a master-stroke as he set up both the second and third goals for the Gunners.

They levelled in the 56th minute when Bellerin played a neat ball down the right for the Welshman, who slipped it inside on his left to Aubameyang, who hit it first time and he could not have connected any more sweetly. The ball bent into Lloris’s bottom left hand corner to make it 2-2.

Ramsey then turned the game on its head again in the 74th minute when he robbed Juan Foyth, who had miss-controlled the ball, and immediately put Alecandre Lacazette in. Lacazette had plenty left to do, but with three Spurs players around him, he was allowed to turn and shoot form the edge of the box. Despite slipping and scuffing his shot, the ball deflected off Dier and span past Lloris into the left-hand corner to make it 3-2.

Arsenal killed the game off three minutes later when Aubameyang slipped the ball through to Lucas Torreira on the right side of the box and the Uruguayan, completely free, coolly slotted the ball home to record his first goal for the Gunners.

There was still time for more fireworks, as Vertonghen was dismissed with moments remaining for a second yellow card, and Arsenal closed out the game to go fourth, leapfrogging Tottenham who slip to fifth.