Arsenal made it three wins on the bounce after beating rivals Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 in the North London Derby at the Emirates Stadium.

Goals from Emile Smith Rowe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bukayo Saka put the Gunners 3-0 up at the break, before Heung-Min Son scored what turned out to be only a consolation. 

Arsenal climb up to 10th in the Premier League, ahead of Tottenham Hotspur who are level with the Gunners in 11th. 

Story of the game:

Mikel Arteta opted to put the returning Granit Xhaka in the side, replacing Nicolas Pepe as an additional defensive midfielder since their 1-0 win over Burnley last weekend. Nuno Espirito Santo benched new signing Christian Romero, with Tanguy Ndombele starting ahead of Oliver Skipp. 

Emile Smith Rowe latched onto Bukayo Saka's low driven cross to make it 1-0 in 12 minutes. Skipper Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (who scored in all three home matches he has featured in against Spurs) made it two 15 minutes later with a tidy finish beating Hugo Lloris in the Spurs net.

Bukayo Saka then slotted the ball into the bottom corner to make it 3-0 before the first half had even come to a conclusion sending Arteta jumping down the touchline in delight. 

There were shouts for penalties at both ends when Gabriel was brought down from a Bukayo Saka cross. Spurs then ran down the other end and Ben White seemed to bring down Harry Kane right on the edge of the area. 

It was a rather quiet game for Spurs captain Harry Kane, who missed a glorious chance midway into the second half when he was through on goal in a 1-on-1 with Aaron Ramsdale and put it wide. 

Heung Min-Son was there though to stop Aaron Ramsdale's chances of a debut derby day clean sheet with a consolation goal with ten minutes to go. He then later denied Lucas Moura in the 91st minute with a fingertip save onto the crossbar.

Spurs were all over Arsenal in the last ten minutes but failed to find a way past Ramsdale and when the whistle was sounded in the 95th minute, the cheering from the packed out seats of the Emirates Stadium was positive rather than the whistling that could be heard a few weeks prior when Chelsea beat the Gunners. 

Takeaways:

First glimpses of a full-strength Arsenal team

The Gunners had no injury concerns in preparation for the North London Derby and as a result, Arteta was able to field a full side with Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Martin Ødegaard all linking up well for the three goals.

Arsenal now head to the AMEX Stadium, where they will face an in-form Brighton side who have always caused problems for the Gunners on previous occasions.

An out of form Spurs attack

Harry Kane struggled to make an impact as he usually had done at the Emirates Stadium, and Heung Min-Son did manage to get on the scoresheet but was too late to spoil the party that had been created in the first half. 

Tottenham have Mura on Thursday in the UEFA Conference League at home, but their real test comes on Sunday again at home where they will face Aston Villa who are coming off a 1-0 win against a very strong Manchester United side.

Starting XIs: 

Arsenal: Ramsdale, Tierney, Gabriel, White, Tomiyasu, Partey, Xhaka (Sambi Lokonga), Saka (Maitland Niles), Ødegaard, Smith Rowe (Tavares), Aubameyang (C) (4-2-3-1)

Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Reguilon, Dier, Sanchez, Tanganga (Emerson), Højberg, Alli, Ndombele (Gil), Alli (Skipp), Son, Lucas, Kane (C) (4-3-3)