It was another two points dropped for Arsenal as the North London derby at Tottenham ended in a 2-2 draw.
The result left me with a mixed feeling as not winning saw our title chances fade further but, showing great character to at least claim a point when we were down to 10 men was good to see.
Before the game I'd have taken a point but it is also frustrating that we couldn't find a way to boost our title chances and win the game. Considering we were on the back foot for large spells of the game a point doesn't seem too bad now. We maybe should've had a penalty in the closing stages but overall I can't complain about the result as Spurs were the better side.
Tottenham put us on the back foot early on and in the opening half an hour of the game we struggled to really do much of note with the ball and, at that point, it was looking very worrying for us.
Harry Kane had an early chance to open the scoring but his effort was comfortably saved by David Ospina, who was standing in for the injured Petr Cech, before the striker sent another shot over the bar soon after.
Ospina then proved his worth with an excellent save to deny Erik Lamela. Lamela managed to divert Kyle Walker's shot towards goal but Ospina managed to get a hand to it to palm it away.
Arsenal were containing Spurs well but it was still concerning me how much of the game's attacking play was being done by them. It is often expected that a home side will have a lot of the ball but I thought we would've created more in the attack than we did in the first half.
Tottenham had certainly enjoyed the better of the play, but that didn't stop us from opening the scoring against the run of play six minutes before the break. Danny Welbeck span past his man before rolling the ball across to Hector Bellerin before the right-back set up Aaron Ramsey to delightfully flick the ball beyond Hugo Lloris in the Tottenham goal.
The goal seemed to fire us up and we suddenly went from lacking ideas in attack to looking like we could actually go on to maybe even win the game.
Arsenal wasted the chance to double their lead before half-time when Welbeck's header was saved by Lloris.
Ospina had to be alert to keep out Walker's effort in the early stages of the second half before the game turned on its head following the dismissal of Arsenal's defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin for a second bookable offence after 55 minutes. It was a clumsy sliding challenge by Coquelin on Kane and, had he not done it and stayed on the field, I think we could've won the game. Instead it allowed Tottenham to get right back into it and meant that we had to suddenly change our tactical approach.
Spurs nearly levelled almost immediately but Ospina made a great save to deny Kane from close range before Per Mertesacker cleared the danger, with goal-line technology proving just how close the hosts had come to scoring. But Tottenham did find an equaliser as Toby Alderweireld fired the ball home from a corner on the hour mark.
Coquelin's dismissal was undoing all of Arsenal's hard work as just two minutes later Tottenham then took the lead. Kane got the ball near the corner flag before racing to the edge of the area and curling a shot beyond Ospina.
The Colombian was called into action again soon after and did well to keep out Eric Dier, who was arguably lucky not to have been given a second yellow for a pull on Olivier Giroud later on in the second half.
At that point I genuinely felt like we weren't even going to get anything out of the game but we refused to give up and were back on level terms through Alexis Sanchez 14 minutes from time. Sanchez raced onto a pass from Bellerin before hitting a shot first time into the far corner.
I was then hoping we could push on and win the game but was very wary that we would need to be extra careful at the back as the game could've gone either way.
Christian Eriksen's long-range effort was tipped over the bar by Ospina, who also denied Dele Alli, while Sanchez was only denied a second at the other end when his wonderfully struck free-kick was kept out by a superb diving save from Lloris.
Arsenal nearly gifted Spurs a winner late on when Gabriel sliced a cross just over his own crossbar.
There was still time for both sides to find a winner with Kevin Wimmer putting in a good tackle to get a touch to Aaron Ramsey's shot to stop it from going in. At the time I had genuinely thought it should've been a penalty but, after having seen the replay, it was clearly just a well-timed tackle by the defender.
Deep into injury time Eriksen sent his effort wide to ensure both sides took a share of the spoils.
OPPOSITION VIEW
Tottenham fan Adrian Drakes chose to focus on the performances of the two goalkeepers - Ospina and Lloris - as he reflected back on the game.
"Man of the match was the Arsenal goalkeeper and sadly Lloris perhaps should have got a better hand to the second to stop it," said Drakes.
"If only Ospina had stood 1cm further back we'd have had a deserved third and that wouldn't have mattered. At least Manchester United lost as they were catching up quickly."
Drakes' fellow Spurs fan Anthony Rayment added: "I felt it was a great game and that the way Arsenal played after the sending off might give them the moral boost they need to turn things around.
"I was happy for Spurs too. A difficult week done. Three points clear of the Arse."
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
Getting a point out of a tense derby away game is by no means a poor result but in terms of the title race this was a game we really needed to have won.
The draw leaves us three points behind second-placed Spurs and eight off leaders Leicester. Although an eight-point gap is possible to turn around, the chances of us not dropping any further points and other results all going our way is unlikely.
We need to make sure we don't worry about other team's results and just focus on getting our own job done, and what will be will be.
Focus must now turn to the FA Cup as the fixtures continue to pile up with our fifth-round replay at Hull next on the agenda.
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
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