Arsenal continued their unbeaten start to the season with a dramatic 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur.

Mikel Arteta’s side twice led but were pegged back on both occasions in an action-packed North London Derby.

Arsenal continued their unbeaten start to the season on Sunday, drawing 2-2 with Tottenham Hotspur.

Despite twice taking the lead, Mikel Arteta‘s side had to settle for a point in a match that was anything but short on drama or chances.

The match saw Arteta make two changes to the team that defeated PSV Eindhoven last Wednesday.

Eddie Nketiah was brought in to replace the injured Leandro Trossard, and Fabio Vieira was given the nod over Kai Havertz.

Arsenal came close to breaking the deadlock early on as Gabriel Jesus saw his volley superbly saved by Guglielmo Vicario.

Shortly afterwards, Eddie Nketiah had a clear chance on goal due to Destiny Udogie’s ill-advised backpass. Once again, Vicario was forced to make a save, this time at his near post.

Arsenal eventually went ahead in the 26th minute when Bukayo Saka‘s curling effort deflected off Cristian Romero and found the back of the net.

Tottenham appeared rattled as Jesus missed a golden opportunity, but they managed to equalise through Heung-min Son, who punished lax defending from Declan Rice and Saka.

Arteta opted for changes at half-time, replacing the injured Rice with Jorginho and bringing Havertz on for Vieira.

The Gunners regained the lead shortly after the restart when Saka converted a penalty, following a handball by Romero.

That lead lasted just over a minute as Jorginho lost possession in the centre circle to James Maddison, who set up Son for his second goal of the day.

Stats from the game further sheds light on the tightly contested nature of the fixture.

Tottenham edged Arsenal in ball possession with 53% compared to Arsenal’s 47%, although the bulk of that was in their own defensive third.

Both teams had an expected goals (xG) tally above one, with Arsenal at 2.08 and Tottenham at 1.50.

Each side recorded 13 total shots and had four big chances, with Arsenal missing three and Tottenham missing two.

Pass accuracy was also evenly matched: Arsenal completed 313 passes with an 85% accuracy rate, while Tottenham had 373 accurate passes at an 86% rate.

Player performances were likewise closely matched. Heung-Min Son had a match rating of 8.8, closely followed by Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka at 8.5.

James Maddison also earned an 8.5 rating, while Tottenham’s Vicario and Micky van de Ven were rated 8.0 and 7.2, respectively.

Arsenal’s next highest rated player was Jesus with 7.1.

David Raya, who usually averages a pass completion rate of over 80% hit just 69% with only 44% of his long passes finding a teammate.

In short, Arsenal underperformed and Spurs over-performed for their cup final.

Arsenal will undoubtedly be more disappointed with the result, with Spurs manager Ange Postecoglu pumping his fists towards the Spurs fans at the final whistle showing what this meant to them.

Mikel Arteta, meanwhile, has some work to do if  Arsenal are to have genuine title ambitions this season.