SPURS will not know whether to be delighted or deflated after missing the chance to claim a famous victory in today’s (Sunday) North London Derby.

Tottenham may have settled for a draw before the match but for much of this encounter they had Arsenal on the ropes on their own turf, only to mysteriously fade in the last 15 minutes and allow the Gunners to lock up a draw.

Harry Kane sent Spurs in at half-time with the lead on his first appearance at the Emirates Stadium. His finish was characteristically emphatic but Arsenal will need an inquest into how Danny Rose was able to thread such a simple ball in between the miscommunicating Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker. The confusion in the Gunners’ rearguard had the feel of a park match.

The trouble for Tottenham, however, is that it was only one and the visitors then began compiling an album of agonising misses. Erik Dier headed wide from a swirling free-kick from Christian Eriksen, who himself fired another chance wide.

Kieran Gibbs, a defender playing up front, saved Arsenal's blushes

In the second half, there was a feast of chances for Tottenham to kill the match off. Kane slid a shot wide when well-placed, Dele Alli steered a rebound over the bar, and Petr Cech saved dramatically from both Eriksen and a close range header from Toby Alderweireld.

Arsenal were stuttering until the last quarter of an hour and it was not clear from where a leveller could be summioned. The injury crisis at Ashburton Grove left manager Arsene Wenger without any experienced attacking options to call from the bench.

Harry Kane opened the scoring

The home side looked shellshocked when Olivier Giroud somehow managed to steer a free header wide of the post. He missed three guilt-edged chances over the 90 minutes, sparking the endless debate as to whether he is clinical enough to lead the line consistently for a title-chasing club.

Arsene Wenger looked at his substitutes and in the end replaced the tiring Joel Campbell with Kieran Gibbs, asking the defender to take on a forward role.

There were one or two confused looks in the stands but minutes later the Arsenal manager looked like a tactical genius when the makeshift winger bundled Mesut Ozil’s tempting cross in at the back post. His unorthodox finish seemed to confused Lloris as it just about squeezed between the keeper and the post.

The match changed and Arsenal finally had the ascendency, but you are relying on good fortune if you expect to win a derby match by ruling for only the final few moments. Lloris made a couple of good saves and if the game had another quarter to it, Wenger’s team may have stolen the victory, but it was Tottenham who left the pitch feeling that two points had slipped away.