Arsenal 1 Tottenham 1: five things we learnt from the north London derby

Kieran Gibbs cancelled out Harry Kane's opening strike

Mathieu Flamini celebrates Arsenal's equaliser (Getty Images)

Kieran Gibbs came off the bench to cancel out Harry Kane's first-half strike as Arsenal and Tottenham played out a 1-1 draw in the north London derby.

What did we learn from the clash at the Emirates?

1. Kane the two-season wonder

Tottenham's star striker has spent the majority of this season trying to defy those predicting he would fail to reach last year's heady heights. After a difficult start, which saw Kane score just one goal in 13 games for Spurs, he now has six in four and his first-half finish at the Emirates was one of a man brimming with confidence once again.

2. Assist-king Ozil breaks Premier League record

Mesut Ozil has been something of an enigma since his £42.4million move from Real Madrid two years ago - spectacular one minute, underwhelming the next. The German creator, however, is finally finding some consistency this season and his pin-point cross for Gibbs' equaliser made it six league games in a row now that he has registered an assist - a new Premier League record.

3. Europa hangover cure

The Europa League has been the bane of Tottenham's top four ambitions in recent years but Mauricio Pochettino's young and athletic squad seem finally to have found a way of balancing the two competitions. Spurs have now taken eight points from the four games immediately following European matches and there were few signs here of fatigue either during a determined display.

4. Injuries threaten Gunners' title bid

Arsenal were missing seven senior players for this north London derby and, with their squad stretched, were only able to make one change from the side that were hammered by Bayern Munich in midweek. Until the final 10 minutes, the Gunners looked a pale shadow of the team that have made such a strong start in the league and, against tougher opponents, Spurs showed why Arsene Wenger's side can ill-afford so many absentees.

5. Clinical finishing the difference

Both sides look as close as they have been in a long time to achieving their ambitions - Tottenham a place in the Champions League and Arsenal a first league title since 2004 - but each could ultimately be undone by their failure to reinforce up front. This derby was there for the taking but neither team were clinical enough to capitalise during their dominant spells and in the end both managers were left wondering what might have been.

PA