Spurs

After beating Tottenham in the North London derby, Arsenal are the bookies' favourites to win the Premier League for the first time in seven years.

It is a shame as it is just a game of football at the end of the day. He then denied Kane again and [Ryan Sessegnon](http://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/241328/Ryan-Sessegnon) early in the second half as Spurs fought to get back into the game, so his contribution was vital. They lacked ideas and organisation, and confidence seems to be in short supply, but Spurs have now reached the decisive stage of their season. [Hugo Lloris](http://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/43372/Hugo-Lloris) own-goal followed by a long-range strike by [Martin Odegaard](http://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/203669/martin-ødegaard) -- both in the first half -- were enough to claim the points and maintain Arsenal's bid to win their first title since Arsene Wenger's Invincibles in 2003-04. Now, the mistakes are becoming too regular, and Spurs need to start looking for a replacement. There is little sign of another bounce this term, but Spurs will need to find something pretty quickly because those next three league games could see them come away with zero points if they perform as poorly as they did against the Gunners. Whether Arsenal's squad is deep enough to last the course remains to be seen, and plenty of teams have failed to sustain a good first half of the season into the second half. The 36-year-old provoked nervousness in his defenders and was then slow to get down in his failed attempt to keep out Odegaard's 20-yard shot for Arsenal's second. This was a day of contrasts for the two goalkeepers on duty. 15, Arsenal's title credentials really will be placed under scrutiny, but they breezed through the first challenge by beating Spurs with a scoreline that flattered the home side. With the Spurs game followed by United at the Emirates next Sunday and a home game against City on Feb. [Manchester United](/football/team?id=360), coupled with Arsenal's North London derby victory, gave Mikel Arteta's team an eight-point lead ahead of Pep Guardiola's side.

Arsenal went eight points clear at the top of the Premier League after a classic Spurs performance in what was a predictable outcome on Derby Day.

The ball went down the right, Saka found Odegaard in a pocket of space and the Arsenal captain drilled the ball hard and low into the bottom corner. This was also the first time an away team has won this fixture in the league since 2014 and was only Arsenal’s second win at their rivals in the last 14 seasons. Saka had a new foe with Perisic coming on, as Conte knew he needed more going forward and that Mikel Arteta’s star man would not be seeing as much of the ball. Thankfully for them, the transfer window is open. Spurs needed to get into the break only one goal down and it looked like there was no chance whatsoever that would be the case. I expected to maybe see Richarlison come on for the second half, but the Italian head coach made no half-time substitutions. Dejan Kulusevski was getting some joy of his own against Oleksandr Zinchenko, but could not find that killer pass or shot. “Spurs are playing like little boys out there”, “they look a beaten bunch”, Saka “has destroyed them”, said co-commentator Gary Neville in a scathing, yet fair, assessment. The Frenchman spilled one a fortnight ago against Aston Villa and has always been a bit dodgy with his feet – especially in recent years – and Arsenal evidently knew that. Ryan Sessegnon was given the nod in left-wing-back ahead of Ivan Perisic and it was pretty obvious why. The score reading 0-1 in the first half was pretty inevitable and Lloris being at the heart of it was no surprise. And then Arsenal were in front.