Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain spared Arsenal's blushes and continued their unbeaten league run as the 174th North London derby against Tottenham ended 1-1 at the Emirates.
The Gunners controlled large spells of the game and enjoyed 69% possession, with 16 shots to their opponents six, but it was Tottenham who took the lead against the run of play in a tense clash in the capital. Nacer Chadli scored his fourth league goal of the season after 56 minutes. Substitute Mathieu Flamini carelessly gave away possession to Christian Eriksen, who picked out Erik Lamela and the former Roma man played in Chadli to calmly shoot beyond Wojciech Szczesny.
Arsenal almost responded instantly but Hugo Lloris saved superbly to keep out Per Mertesacker's header, although there appeared to be some debates over whether or not it crossed the line. Replays only appeared to show the initial save and a ruling of 'no goal' but didn't fully show the path of the ball afterwards although I have no real complaints about the incident.
The hosts didn't let the decision affect them, continuing to pile the pressure on their opponents with defender Calum Chambers, who put in an outstanding display, firing a sweet volley narrowly over the crossbar. Arsenal were eventually rewarded with an equaliser as Oxlade-Chamberlain fired home his first goal of the season 16 minutes from time. Substitute Alexis Sanchez crossed for Danny Welbeck, who swung and missed the ball to cause confusion in the Spurs defence, and Oxlade-Chamberlain was on hand to smash the ball into the top corner.
Arsene Wenger's men tried to push for a winner but Spurs held firm and would've been the happier of the two sides to take a point from the game, with the Gunners likely to be more frustrated not to have won. It will look like two more points dropped for the hosts, who have frustratingly drawn four of their opening six league games. On the other hand, the Gunners are still unbeaten in the league this season and continuing their form from the end of the 2013/14 campaign have now gone 11 games without defeat in the EPL. It is also important not to have lost the derby game and, although we really should have won given the amount of possession we had, at least we didn't lose so it is not all bad.
Reflecting back on the game, it was really mixed with both positives and negatives for Wenger to ponder ahead of a crucial week of games. Although we are still unbeaten, we need to be a lot more clinical in attack and there is still plenty room for improvement especially ahead of the Champions League tie against Galatasaray and the dreaded trip to Chelsea. The Gunners must ensure there is no repeat of last season's 6-0 drubbing at Stamford Bridge. I didn't even want to mention this painful memory, but we can't hide behind the cracks and we will have to come up with a mammoth performance to stop Diego Costa and Chelsea in our next league game.
We are capable of doing this, especially if we really take the game to them like we did against Manchester City, but it will rely on us converting our chances better and avoiding any silly mistakes. Obvious I know, but we must get the basics right. The injuries picked up against Tottenham didn't exactly help our cause with Mikel Arteta (calf) and Aaron Ramsey (hamstring) already ruled out of the next two games, while Jack Wilshere (ankle) is already a doubt. This will stretch Wenger's squad to the limit. I think we may be able to cope but we can't afford any more injuries or we will struggle.
Chelsea have looked unstoppable this season so it will be vital for us to turn in a performance of the highest quality and to try and prove we can match the best, as it is the away defeats to Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool that ultimately forced us to settle for fourth last season.
But it isn't all doom and gloom. We are more than capable of putting in top class performances and we will really need one of those to stand a chance at Stamford Bridge.
Stopping Costa will also be key and it was a huge boost of confidence to see right-back Chambers put in another immense display against Spurs, while Laurent Koscielny was again solid at the back and we will need them to be on top of their game again against Jose Mourinho's league leaders. I think we can keep them out for large spells but Costa doesn't need too many chances to score so we will need our attack to be in top form to make sure we get goals first.
Talking of goals there were three super strikes that really caught my eye over the weekend. Phil Jagielka's late equaliser ensured Everton got a share of the spoils in a 1-1 draw in the Merseyside derby at Anfield. The ball came out to the defender outside the box and the Toffees captain fired the ball in on the half-volley to give Simon Mignolet no chance. There were two even better goals in Southampton's 2-1 victory over QPR at St Mary's. QPR striker Charlie Austin levelled the scores when he controlled the ball expertly before turning and volleying the ball beyond Fraser Forster in the Southampton goal. The pick of the day for me was Southampton's winner from Graziano Pelle. The Italian youngster flicked the ball up with his back to goal before unleashing a truly wonderful volley as the second-placed Saints continued their impressive start to the season.
It made Match of the Day great viewing, although it is still a shame we didn't win and I still don't understand why we were as low as 6th in the running order.
We just need to make sure we come out on top next week and if we can get at least four points from the games against Galatasaray and Chelsea I will be one happy Gooner.
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
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