North London is red as Arsenal batter Tottenham

Fresh off the international break, the Gunners came flying out of the blocks, setting the tempo from the first minute and pinning Tottenham deep in their half, with Spurs content to sit back and try to hit Arsenal on the break.

As we have become accustomed to, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Ben White played as inverted fullbacks to form a 2-3-5 in possession for Arsenal and give them a base to move the ball side to side on the edge of the penalty area whilst probing for an opening, which eventually came through a long-range Thomas Partey effort 20 minutes in.

Despite Arsenal’s early dominance, Tottenham’s front three eventually linked up on the counter and forced Gabriel into a clumsy challenge on Richarlison to give away a penalty on the half-hour mark, which Harry Kane promptly converted.

Fuelled by Mikel Arteta’s half-time team talk, Arsenal sprung back to life in the second half, with Gabriel Jesus prodding the ball in from close range after a Hugo Lloris mistake five minutes after the restart.

And Granit Xhaka sealed the three points for the home side with an angled drive from inside the area in the 67th minute.

Granit Xhaka scored Arsenal's third goal against Tottenham (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)

It was a game of control from Arsenal, restricting Tottenham to a handful of opportunities and largely stopping their counter-attacks at source.

The period between Tottenham’s equaliser and half-time was somewhat concerning, as it looked, for the first time in several games, like Arsenal were holding on for the break.

But the Gunners are doing a better job at dominating games for longer periods this season, giving their opposition fewer opportunities to capitalise.

Arteta's men host Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt in their second game of the Europa League group stages on Thursday night, before welcoming Liverpool to the Emirates on Sunday (4.30pm) where they have an opportunity to make a real statement.

Arsenal's Martin Odegaard applauds the fans after the North London derby (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)

Despite Liverpool’s struggles, they are still one of the most feared sides in Europe, and a win would give the group huge confidence, and crucially put Arsenal 14 points ahead of Jurgen Klopp's side with a quarter of the season gone.