Alexis Sanchez scored his first Premier League goal in almost five months as 10-man Arsenal fought back late on to draw 2-2 with Tottenham Hotspur and deny their North London rivals top spot in the table.
It was a very open start at White Hart Lane, with Spurs doing most of the early pressing as Harry Kane tested stand-in Arsenal keeper David Ospina with a couple of speculative efforts.
Arsenal struggled to deal with the home side’s high-octane intensity, with the likes of Sanchez and Mesut Ozil doing very little in the opening period.
The closest Spurs came to breaking the deadlock was in the 26th minute when Erik Lamela did well to divert Kyle Walker’s fierce low cross on goal, but Ospina was equal to it, instinctively diving to his right and pushing the ball away from danger.
Three yellow cards in as many minutes followed as tackles continued to fly in before Arsenal snuck in front six minutes before half time.
Danny Welbeck got away down the left and found Hector Bellerin on the far side, with the Spanish full-back putting the ball back into the middle and Aaron Ramsey managing to flick the ball home audaciously.
The goal gave Arsenal a lift, but they could not extend their lead as Spurs made it through to half time just a goal behind.
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