Tottenham vs Arsenal LIVE: Premier League result and final score after Son penalty in late drama

Mikel Arteta insists his sole focus remains on Arsenal’s last four games of the season and not on the results of their Premier League title rivals.

The Gunners will go into Sunday’s north London derby at Tottenham top of the table, although the destination of the title is not in their own hands with reigning champions Manchester City just a point behind and with a game in hand.

With Liverpool also involved, the three-way title run-in has already provided twists and turns but – as interest peaks towards the end of the campaign – Arteta is happy to sound like a broken record as he aims to deliver a first league crown to Arsenal in two decades.

Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino says VAR is “damaging English football” after his side were denied an injury-time winner at Aston Villa.

The Blues thought they had overturned a 2-0 half-time deficit at Villa Park when Axel Disasi crashed home a header only for it to be ruled out for a foul on Diego Carlos in the build-up.

Referee Craig Pawson did not award the foul in real time but did so after being advised to check the pitchside monitor by VAR Christopher Kavanagh.

It puts the decision-review system further in the spotlight after Nottingham Forest accused VAR Stuart Attwell of being biased after he failed to intervene on three penalty decisions.

Tottenham forward Richarlison is primed to start upon his return from injury for Sunday’s north London derby with Arsenal.

Spurs enter this home fixture after a two-week break, which has allowed Richarlison to fully recover from a knee injury that halted an impressive run of nine goals in 10 matches and prevented him starting since February 17.

Tottenham have struggled for consistency in Richarlison’s absence and lost 4-0 at Newcastle a fortnight ago, but the Brazil international is ready to provide a point of difference and bring the physicality to Arsenal’s rock-solid defence on Sunday.

Mikel Arteta has urged his players to put their north London rivalry with Tottenham to one side as Arsenal look to stay top of the Premier League with victory at their neighbours.

The Gunners will make the short trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday knowing they will remain at the summit if they leave with the three points.

It would take Arsenal a step closer to a first league crown in two decades, when Arsene Wenger’s Invincibles secured the title at White Hart Lane.

Spurs have since moved into a new home and will have a partisan crowd cheering them on against Arsenal as the hosts aim to keep their own top-four ambitions on track.

Arteta wants to remove the emotion of derby day and focus on the job at hand.

It’s a scene as old as time: rows of loyal and passionate supporters chanting from the terraces in support of their beloved sports team. Beautiful, emotional and stirring, chanting in unison in a stadium environment can be one of the most moving and arresting sounds you’ll ever hear.

It can also be disgusting, abusive and extremely hurtful.

The tribal nature of chanting is partly what makes watching sport exciting. Anyone remember the empty-stadium matches we all had to watch on TV during the pandemic? In the absence of “live” fans in the ground, even the most anticipated of games between bitter rivals were reduced to what felt like a friendly kickabout in the park.

Fans, chanting, vocal support – it all creates atmosphere. And sport, now that we’ve experienced it, is worse off without it. But when does chanting turn into abuse?

On Tuesday night, Arsenal and England star Declan Rice was subjected to what can only be described as abusive chants from a group of Chelsea supporters watching the game. Except the chants weren’t just about him – they were also aimed at his girlfriend, Lauren Fryer.

Read Gemma Abbott’s Voices column on abuse at football matches:

Son Heung-min has acknowledged Arsenal are one of the best teams in the world but is confident Tottenham will bounce back from their Newcastle humbling in Sunday’s north London derby.

Spurs enter the fixture after an untimely two-week break on the back of a painful 4-0 loss at St James’ Park.

Arsenal were also reeling a fortnight ago but have responded to their Champions League exit with impressive back-to-back wins to return to the Premier League summit.

This match begins a difficult final month of the campaign for Tottenham, with fixtures to come against Arsenal’s title challengers Liverpool and Manchester City as well as London rivals Chelsea.

If there wasn’t so much tension around this game, and between these clubs, Mikel Arteta and Ange Postecoglou might be able to settle in and discuss a few shared ideas. Both have worked in the City Football Group structure, which reflects how much the Abu Dhabi-owned champions shape the wider game. You can even look at how a former Manchester City player is joint top scorer with a current Manchester City player. There probably hasn’t been this extent of pure football influence since Barcelona fostered an entire generation of coaches from the early 2000s on. That is no coincidence since the City project directly sought to appropriate the entire Camp Nou ideology. This was one of the points of pursuing Pep Guardiola for so long.

A core of that philosophy, which seems so standard now but was once revolutionary, is persisting with the system regardless of what happens around you – or to you. You keep the faith. You trust the process. Arteta and Postecoglou have exemplified this, if from alternative interpretations of the tactics.

In his difficult first two years, the Arsenal manager insisted on playing through a possession game, even amid so many frustrating spells. Meanwhile, Postecoglou’s commitment to attack has been one of the themes of the season. “It’s just who we are, mate” has almost become a meme.

You keep going through the process until you reach a point of end product. You don’t actively think about it but internalise it. The idea is that it becomes second nature, and teams can play on instinct. A problem for both teams in this north London derby, however, is they can’t but think about what all of this means. It’s just the latest version of this fixture described as maybe the most important ever. Whatever the truth of that, it is certainly one where both have to produce. This is a game beyond theory or process. It’s to do, or die.

Miguel Delaney’s North London Derby preview:

Tottenham can dent Arsenal’s Premier League title hopes in a crunch north London derby today.

Arsenal are bidding to win the Premier League title for the first time in 20 years and Mikel Arteta believes the Gunners cannot afford to drop points if they are to push Manchester City to the final weekend of the season.

But Spurs would love nothing more than to knock their rivals out of the title race, but it’s a must-win for Ange Postecoglou’s side anyway as they must win to keep their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League alive.

Arsenal won 2-0 at Tottenham last January, beating Antonio Conte’s side, and Arteta’s side back in form after thrashing Chelsea 5-0 in midweek to go top of the table.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the Premier League fixture.

Tottenham Hotspur’s top-four prospects have been dealt a blow after full-back Destiny Udogie was ruled out for the rest of the season.

Udogie has flourished in his first campaign in the Premier League and made 30 appearances in all competitions for Spurs.

The Italian defender has caught the eye with his ventures into midfield under Ange Postecoglou, but revealed in a post on Instagram that he had surgery on an unspecified injury and would not play again in the 2023-24 season.

“An injury brings my season to an early end,” Udogie wrote.

“It doesn’t take away from how grateful I am to every person that has supported me this year.”