Arsenal 1-1 Spurs: Report and react

Arsenal started this game at a crazy pace, and Spurs couldn't keep up. Then, after about 10 minutes of windsprints, Spurs settled into the game a bit.  Debuchy looked better than he did midweek, and as a result there were no alarming incidents or panic moments like there were on Wednesday. In fact, nothing of note happened from either side until the 31st minute, when Danny Rose fed a pretty perfect ball to Harry Kane, who had maneuvered past Koscielny, who was attempting a one-man offside trap after seeing Mertesacker dragged (or dragging himself) out of position. Kane then got the ball on the bounce and Harry Kaned it over Petr Cech's outstretched leg and into the goal for a 1-0 lead. And that's where the first half ended - Spurs up, Arsenal struggling for cohesion and in desperate need of a right side.

The second half started with Mathieu Flamini coming on for Santi Cazorla, which...hmmmm. Campbell put a great shot on target in the 48th minute that was well saved by Lloris. The FlamCoq partnership did what it usually does, which is not much.

Arsenal had a great chance in the 53rd minute off a free kick, which was headed against the crossbar by Olivier Giroud. Arsenal played the first part of the second half with much more urgency than the first, but to a similar frustratingly incomplete end. In the 57th minute, it was Kos' turn to miss with a header, which he sent wide of the post.

In the 58th minute, Arsenal earned two successive corners, the second of which saw Giroud head the ball just past the post again, adding to a frustrating evening for the Frenchman. And for Arsenal, who struggled to deal with Spurs' high press for most of the game.  For most of the second half, in fact, Arsenal looked like they had absolutely nothing left in the tank; Spurs were able to control the ball easily, and any time Arsenal did regain possession, they did absolutely nothing with it.

Kieran Gibbs came on for Joel Campbell in the 73rd minute in an attempt to inject some life into Arsenal's attack; he did just that in the 75th minute, when yet another amazing Özil ball found Gibbs, who mashed the ball past Lloris into the net for the equalizer.

This, obviously, woke Arsenal up a bit, and made them realize that they could actually take the game to Spurs; after pressing the entire game, Spurs looked as exhausted in the 80th minute as Arsenal did throughout the entire second half. Arsenal had several nice moves that threatened but ultimately came to nothing, and the match ended as it started, at least in the sense that there was no winner.

Given the way Arsenal played for most of the game, this point feels like a bit of a let-off; it's never fun to not beat Spurs, but I'll definitely take the point and wish Arsenal's players a very restful and healing international break.