Stirring Arsenal fight back to draw derby
LONDON, Sept 1, (Agencies): Arsenal striking duo Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette scored as their side roared back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at home to rivals Tottenham Hotspur in a thrilling north London derby in the Premier League on Sunday.
Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen nudged the ball into an empty net on the rebound to give the visitors an early lead after a superb piece of hold up play from Son Heungmin allowed Erik Lamela to fire at goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
Arsenal had most of the ball but Spurs were far more threatening on the break and Leno was forced to keep out stinging efforts from Kane and Eriksen before Tottenham were awarded a penalty for a clumsy foul by Granit Xhaka on Son.
Kane scored from the spot in the 40th minute to put Spurs on track for a first league win on enemy territory in nine years but Lacazette halved the deficit right before halftime with an emphatic strike after an exquisite pass from Nicolas Pepe.
Kane came close to sealing the points for Tottenham when he struck the post but Arsenal became galvanised when Spanish midfielder Dani Ceballos came off the bench and smashed a shot which keeper Hugo Lloris did well to tip over.
An equaliser looked ever likelier and duly arrived when Gabon striker Aubameyang prodded a lofted pass from Matteo Guendouzi into the net in the 71st minute, scoring a third goal in four Premier League games this season.
Arsenal’s Sokratis Papastathopoulos had a goal ruled out for offside while Tottenham’s Moussa Sissoko spurned a last-gasp chance in a thrilling finale by blasting over the bar. Arsenal have seven points while Spurs are on five from four games. Everton 3, Wolves 2 Richarlison scored twice and Everton twice threw away the lead against Wolverhampton Wanderers before winning 3-2 in the Premier League on Sunday.
Bookending Alex Iwobi’s goal, Richarlison scored the first and last goals of a frenzied game that lurched between moments of quality, to a long spell of mediocrity and back again to provide an entertaining finish.
Everton handed full Premier League debuts to a trio of summer signings in Moise Kean, Fabian Delph and Iwobi. All three made an impact with Iwobi scoring for the second successive game and Delph, holding things together in midfield, particularly impressive.
After qualifying for the Europa League group stage on Thursday, Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo made four changes, including key players Joao Moutino and Diogo Jota.
Romain Saiss and Raul Jimenez, with his eighth goal in eight starts in all competitions this season, twice pulled Wolves level but defeat left them still looking for their first Premier League win after three draws.
Two of the three goals conceded by Wolves were down to poor defending, with the opener particularly disorderly.
Conor Coady hesitated in playing a backpass to Rui Patricio so when he eventually did, the goalkeeper was taken by surprise and could only stab the ball to Kean, who fortuitously diverted it into the path of Richarlison and he beat Coady on the line in the fifth minute.
Everton, with six successive home league clean sheets having not conceded since February in its last Goodison defeat, would have been hopeful of extending that run considering their record so far this season but that evaporated within four minutes.
Adama Traore, the right wingback, skipped past Lucas Digne and his low cross rebounded invitingly for Saiss to fire home from close range.
Everton came back and Gylfi Sigurdsson swung in a right-wing cross that Iwobi headed home at the far post in the 12th.