It was a cagey first-half showing at Wembley as both sides were desperate not to concede.

There were few chances at either end, but it was recent centurion Harry Kane who came the closest, though the number 10 failed to convert a pinpoint Ben Davies cross.

Arsenal new-boy Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will be left frustrated as it looks as though he was incorrectly ruled offside after being played through by Jack Wilshere, with only Hugo Lloris to beat.

The teams headed down the tunnel with the score level at half-time.

Dominant second half from Spurs

It was the Lillywhite half of North London that came out the brighter in the second-half as Kane put Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 up within five minutes of kick-off.

Just minutes later the Spurs number 10 missed a golden opportunity to put the game beyond Arsene Wenger’s side, as his header from the centre of the box, skimmed the post.

From then on it was wave-after-wave of Tottenham attacks, though Mauricio Pochettinho's side failed to capitalise on their one-goal lead, sparing Arsenal's blushes.

As the game headed into added time, out of form Alexandre Lacazette had two brilliant chances to level the game up, however, squandered both.

The game finished 1-0, as Spurs get their own back from their 2-0 loss at The Emirates stadium, earlier this season.

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See how each player fared individually:

Petr Cech: 6 – Made a number of important saves to keep Arsenal in the game, most notably, a diving save to his right from a Christian Erikson free-kick. However, once again didn’t look confident with the ball at his feet and nearly gifted Spurs a goal as Dele Alli intercepted his pass to Shkodran Mustafi. Luckily for him, it trickled out for a goal-kick.

Laurent Koscielny: 5 – The Frenchman was out-jumped for Kane’s goal and never really recovered after this. Was solid in the first-half, however, played a big role in conceding the only goal of the game.

Shkodran Mustafi: 7 – Arsenal’s best defender and seemed the only player in the Gunners back four to play with any confidence today. The German international showed how much this game meant to him in a pre-game interview and he took that passion onto the pitch. Made an extremely important sliding challenge to stop Kane putting Tottenham into the lead early in the first-half.

Hector Bellerin: 6 – Bellerin was relatively sound going backwards, however, struggled on the ball with continuous sideways passing. Put in a brilliant cross for Lacazette with a few minutes to go, though this seemed to be his only attacking contribution.

Nacho Monreal: 6 – The in-form Spaniard was quiet today at Wembley. Continued to get up and down the left side of the pitch, though was unable to deal a fatal blow that he has become so good at in recent weeks.

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Arsenal midfield outclassed

Jack Wilshere: 6 – Good performance today from Wilshere in his first game back from illness. Showed his quality on the ball just lacked the final product needed to puncture the Tottenham defence. Battled with Mousa Dembele throughout the game, however, the Tottenham midfielder probably came out on top this time out.

Mohammed Elneny: 5 – Same old performance for the Egyptian today. Lacked creativity on the ball and could not contain the likes of Alli and Erikson, granting them too much space on the ball. Will definitely be replaced in the starting line-up when Aaron Ramsey returns to full fitness.

Granit Xhaka: 6 – Typical performance from the Swiss international as he failed to marshal the Arsenal midfield. His range of passing was good but lacked the all-important killer pass.

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No threat from the forwards

Henrikh Mkhitaryan: 5 – Extremely disappointing afternoon for the Armenian. Looked lively on the ball but he just could not find his final ball today. On several occasions failed to find former Dortmund team-mate, Aubameyang. Got into good positions just couldn’t provide for the players in front of him. Was pulled from the game on 65 minutes.

Mesut Ozil: 5 – Similar performance to Mkhitaryan today for Ozil as he failed to provide to the level he usually does. Struggled off the ball in challenges and couldn’t quite find his feet throughout the game. A day to forget for the World Cup winner.

Aubameyang: 5 – Very quiet day for Arsenal’s record signing, with little to no service from deeper players. Was unlucky to be ruled offside as he faced Lloris one-on-one, as replays show he was just in line with the last defender, though this proved to be his biggest contribution to the game.

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Substitutes

Lacazette: 5 – Poor performance from the out-of-form striker today as he passed up two opportunities to draw Arsenal level late into the second-half. Has struggled to get into the team since Aubameyang’s arrival and today’s performance will do him no favours.

Alex Iwobi: 6 – Didn’t necessarily make any mistakes just failed to provide an attacking threat coming off the bench.

Danny Welbeck: N/A – Was not on the pitch long enough to warrant a rating.

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About the author
Adam Fowler
Second-year Sports PR and Journalism student studying at Staffordshire University. Contributing to Vavel UK since October 2017