TOTTENHAM Hotspur came from behind twice to earn a 2-2 draw at local rivals Arsenal in the headline fixture in the English Premier League today.
In other matches, Liverpool defeated West Ham and Brighton overcame an early setback to beat Bournemouth, while Chelsea’s woes continued with a home loss to Aston Villa.
Bukayo Saka forced an own goal off Christian Romero to give Arsenal the lead at the Emirates Stadium in the 26th minute of the top-of-the-billing clash, but Spurs were back level three minutes before half-time through a well-worked Son Heung-min goal.
England forward with Nigerian heritage Saka and Argentina centre-back Romero combined again for Arsenal’s second, the latter giving away a handball penalty which the former converted nine minutes into the second half.
Tottenham, who started to play some brilliant football after Arsenal’s opener, were back level again just one minute later, Son stroking home from James Maddison’s pass after substitute Jorginho had been robbed of possession in a dangerous area.
With the draw, Arsenal and Tottenham dropped to fifth and fourth respectively, separated by goal difference, and four points behind leaders Manchester City.
Liverpool stayed in second place after a 3-1 win over West Ham at Anfield, Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota’s goals sandwiching Jarrod Bowen’s equaliser.
Brighton shook off their UEFA Europa League midweek defeat at home to Greece’s AEK Athens with a 3-1 win over Bournemouth after going behind to Dominic Solanke’s early strike.
Substitute Kaoru Mitoma struck twice in the second half as the Seagulls rose to third spot, one point behind Liverpool.
Brighton have now won five of their first six Premier League matches this season – they are the first side not among the ‘big six’ (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Spurs) to do so in a season since Charlton Athletic in 2005-06, according to Opta statistics.
Chelsea suffered a second consecutive home defeat as they were beaten 1-0 by Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge to pile more pressure on new manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Ollie Watkins struck the game’s only goal in the 73rd minute, 15 minutes after Malo Gusto was sent off for the hosts for a dangerous tackle.
Chelsea are now winless in three consecutive Premier League matches and are 14th in the table with five points from six games, while Villa are sixth with seven more points.
