By Nick Powell
Tottenham missed the chance to go top of the Premier League as they had to settle for a point against 10 man Arsenal in an entertaining, impressive North London derby.
Despite having fewer shots, Arsenal looked the better of the two sides and were given the lead after a superb Aaron Ramsey flick to lead at half-time.
Spurs exploited having the extra man, firing in two excellent goals in as many minutes to take the lead.
But Alexis Sanchez scored a vital goal to keep Arsenal's title hopes alive and frustrate Spurs.
After both sides suffered disappointing defeats in mid-week, it was vital that they didn't lose. But they both came out looking to play with endeavour and as it had been last season, it was an entertaining start.
Whilst Tottenham were able to create chances with more ease, Arsenal were looking as if they had the potential to create more dangerous ones, though their attacks tended to fizzle out in the final third.
But after Arsenal started to improve and find the final pass, they looked more threatening and some excellent play led to a big goal.
Welbeck made a burst down the left and found Bellerin in the box, whose slightly misguided passed was flicked in by Ramsey to give Arsenal the lead.
They could have made it two, the period after the goal was dominant for the visitors, but Spurs held out to head into the break one goal down.
Spurs would have been encouraged by the fact they'd recovered the previous season and were given a major boost when Coquelin saw red.
His mis-timed, pointless challenge on Kane on the left saw him receive a second yellow card and Arsenal were down to ten men.
Spurs started to apply intense pressure, and after an excellent save by David Ospina they equalised through Alderweireld. His impressive half-volley from a ball that was headed down to him from a corner was unsaveable for Ospina.
What followed was even more unsaveable. Danny Rose, who had an excellent game, did excellently to keep the ball in play before Kane curled in a magnificent angled right-foot finish after 62 minutes to put Spurs in command.
But Arsenal gained some shape and structure after seeing out another period of intense Spurs attack, came forward themselves. The ball was worked out wide to Hector Bellerin, who slipped it inside to Alexis Sanchez and his low shot beat Hugo Lloris to end a run of 11 Premier League games without a goal.
Spurs and Arsenal both had attacks towards the end of the game, and Arsenal had the best chance with Ramsey darting into the box but Wimmer provided a vital block to seal the point which ultimately, was a fair result.
Tottenham starting XI: Lloris 6, Walker 7, Alderweireld 7, Wimmer 7, Rose 8; Dembele 6, Dier 5; Lamela 6, Eriksen 7, Alli 7; Kane 8
Arsenal starting XI: Ospina 8, Bellerin 8, Mertesacker 6, Gabriel 5, Gibbs 6, Elneny 6, Coquelin 4, Ramsey 7, Ozil 6, Alexis 7, Welbeck 7
Man of the Match: David Ospina
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