The Arsenal u21s came out of a fiery north London derby with a draw away from home on Saturday, whilst Spurs had two players sent off late.

Though they remain unbeaten and fighting at the top of the Premier League 2 table, the Arsenal u21s have been in somewhat stuttering form lately.

With only one win in five games in all competitions, which was also the only game in which they’d scored more than one goal, Mehmet Ali’s side were hardly in the ideal form to travel to their north London rivals on Saturday morning.

The return of Khayon Edwards from his hamstring injury was a boost, but he was only fit enough to make the bench on this occasion.

All the same, Arsenal dominated the opening 45 minutes, getting the best of the possession and the chances, only lacking a finish.

The tides turned in the second half, with last week’s penalty hero Hubert Graczyk having to make a big save in the early stages to maintain Arsenal’s clean sheet. The offside flag then denied the hosts an opening goal in the 70th minute.

Eventually, Spurs’ frustration at their failure to capitalise on their second-half performance spilled over, and they had two players sent off in injury time – Jamie Donley with a straight red and Kallum Cesay for a second yellow.

Donley had gone in with a studs-up challenge on an Arsenal man, and the ensuing brawl had seen Cesay and Arsenal’s Taylor Foran both booked.

It was too late for Arsenal to capitalise on the man advantage, and they had to settle for a draw. But away from home in the north London derby when not in good form with your star striker only just making his comeback, a draw isn’t a terrible result.

Edwards, for the record, made a 26-minute appearance as a substitute. So it was positive to see him back in action.

Though the result somewhat hurts Arsenal’s title ambitions, leaving them behind Manchester City and Crystal Palace, it also puts them 10 places and 12 points ahead of Spurs.

The point wasn’t enough to lift Arsenal’s rivals out of the relegation zone, and the subsequent suspensions are unlikely to help them either.

Arsenal u21 lineup vs Spurs

Graczyk, Walters, Foran, Awe, Sousa, Smith, Bandeira, Henry-Francis, Cozier-Duberry, Ideho, Butler-Oyedeji

Substitutes

Edwards (for Butler-Oyedeji, 64), Sagor Jr (for Ideho, 75), Hillson, Quesada-Thorn, Taylor-Hart

What’s next?

The Arsenal u21s travel to Northampton Town in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday, October 18th at 19:00 BST, so they have a week’s break until then.