Tottenham 2-3 Arsenal: Havertz, Saka net in North London derby & secure 3 pts

THE hallmark of champions, so they say, is the ability to win matches while not playing at your peak.

So what of a team who lead 3-0 at half-time, away from home, against their most bitter rivals, while being statistically second-best?

What of a team who then gift their opponents two goals, threaten to chuck it all away, yet hold on for three crucial points.

For 45 minutes, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal were ruthlessly efficient. In the second half, they threatened to chuck it all away, to live up to their questionable reputations as choking bottle jobs.

Yet however haphazard this performance, Arsenal look destined to take their title race with Manchester City down to the wire.

After 45 minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Arsenal had registered 28 per cent possession, had two efforts on target and led 3-0.

Arsenal are lethal from attacking set-pieces, Tottenham are terrible at defending them.

And from two corners, Arteta’s men had scored twice - a Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg own goal and a Kai Havertz header, either side of a classy Bukayo Saka finish had effectively ended this North London Derby as a contest inside 38 minutes.

Yet the Gunners gifted Spurs two goals - a David Raya blunder letting in Cristian Romero before Declan Rice conceded a penalty, converted by Son Heung-Min.

But Arsenal clung on for dear life and with three matches to go - at home to Bournemouth and Everton, either side of a trip to Manchester United - their title flame remains alive.

For Ange Postecoglou, this was a sickening gut-punch. Tottenham had hit the post, had an equaliser ruled out by a marginal VAR offside call, and had played the vast majority of the first-half football.

But a second consecutive defeat leaves them needing a minor miracle to overhaul