Gunners claim vital derby win

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain pushed the ball out to Rosicky on the right, and he returned a pass back to the England man

The ball then broke again off Oxlade-Chamberlain into the path of the Czech playmaker who fired a fizzing angled drive past Hugo Lloris into the top-left corner

Sherwood's side - whose collective character has been questioned by the manager in recent weeks - soon regrouped and caused Arsenal a few problems with probing balls into the penalty area.

Arsenal, though, retained possession well and i t should have been 2-0 on 15 minutes when Oxlade-Chamberlain robbed Nabil Bentaleb on the halfway line and sprinted clear

Oxlade-Chamberlain, so impressive in the midweek Champions League draw at Bayern Munich, darted to the edge of the penalty area, but as Lloris came off his line the Arsenal man screwed his attempted chip horribly wide - with Lukas Podolski screaming for a square pass for what would have been a tap-in.

That let-off gave a huge lift to the home side, who immediately went on the offensive with a low cross from Andros Townsend on the right flying through the six-yard box.

On 21 minutes, Arsenal full-back Bacary Sagna slid into a challenge with Danny Rose which - although he probably touched the ball first - totally upended the Spurs defender

Sherwood was off the bench demanding a red card but after a stern talking-to referee Mike Dean produced only a yellow.

Spurs continued to play a very high defensive line, which was breached again when Podolski raced clear down the left

His cut-back was just behind Rosicky but Oxlade-Chamberlain connected with a strike that was deflected out for a corner.

The home side should have been level at the start of the second half following two terrible handling errors from Szczesny

First the Pole flapped at a cross on the edge of the Arsenal penalty area, which Sagna hacked away as Chadli chased the loose ball

Then, inexplicably, Szczesny failed to collect a high cross into the box, which this time did fall for Chadli, but somehow Laurent Koscielny blocked his goalbound shot at point-blank range

With 20 minutes left, t here was a double change for the home side when Paulinho and Gylfi Sigurdsson replaced Chadli and Sandro

For Arsenal, Rosicky was taken off as defensive midfielder Mathieu Flamini came on.

Wenger was off his seat and protesting for what he felt was a penalty after Koscielny was sent tumbling by Jan Vertonghen, but the referee was not interested.

Lloris then made a smart reaction save after Mertesacker lashed the ball goalwards from a deep free-kick.

Tempers boiled over in the closing minutes as Sherwood twice hurled the ball at Sagna when Arsenal had been awarded a throw-in.

Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta was less than impressed and eventually it needed Wenger to move in and act as peacemaker in a crowded technical area as his side played out the four minutes of stoppage time without further incident.

Source : PA

Source: PA