Arsenal flunked an opportunity to go top of the English Premier League table on Sunday when they were held to a 1-1 draw by North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Prior to the keenly-contested game, league leaders Manchester City had been held to a barren draw by bottom club Aston Villa at Villa Park in a match that saw City forward Wilfried Bony being substituted for a hamstring injury in the first half.
Aston Villa’s new coach Remi Garde put up an impressive performance in his debut game, ending a string of seven straight losses for the club.
Spurs’ point man Harry Kane scored the first goal of the game after connecting a Danny Rose pass, bending a curling volley into Petr Cech’s net in the 32nd minute.
Olivier Giroud came close to putting the Gunners level in the 60th minute, but fluffed a header from a neatly-taken Mesut Ozil corner kick.
A string of brilliant saves from Cech kept the Gunners in the game as Dele Alli, Kane, Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela came charging for Spurs.
Substitute Kieran Gibbs, who came on for Joel Campbell, converted another Ozil cross to restore the home side’s confidence and bring them at par with their City rivals.
Arsenal’s sustained pressure in the closing minutes of the game failed to yield further fruit as the visitors manged to hold them to a draw.