Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 Arsenal – How the match was won, lost, and eventually drawn

Tottenham starting XI (4-2-3-1): Hugo Lloris (GK); Kyle Walker, Toby Alderweireld, Kevin Wimmer, Danny Rose; Eric Dier, Mousa Dembele; Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli, Erik Lamela; Harry Kane

Mauricio Pochettino made three changes to the team he used in the 1-0 defeat against the Hammers on Wednesday. Danny Rose replaced Ben Davies at left back, Mousa Dembele returned to partner Eric Dier at the base of the midfield, while Dele Alli, who only come on as a sub in the last match, returned to the line-up as well.

Against Swansea, Pochettino used Alli as the holding midfielder alongside Dier, but against Arsenal, he was back in his free role behind the striker. Dembele's addition added more muscle in the midfield, as Spurs looked to stifle the Arsenal midfield.

Arsenal starting XI (4-2-3-1): David Ospina (GK); Hector Bellerin, Per Mertesacker, Gabriel Paulista, Kieran Gibbs; Francis Coquelin, Mohammed Elneny; Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez; Danny Welbeck

Arsene Wenger made four changes to the team which faced a disappointing defeat against Swansea in their last match. Kieran Gibbs returned to the starting lineup in place of Nacho Monreal, while Ospina replaced the injured Petr Cech in goal.

The surprise selection from Arsenal came in form of the new signing Elneny – what a game to make your first Premier League start for your new club. His inclusion meant Ramsey was shifted to the right wing, where he has looked uncomfortable in the past. Wenger also opted for the pace, and stamina, of Welbeck, over the physical presence of Olivier Giroud in attack.

Arsenal's transition from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-1-2 formation

Arsenal organized themselves in a different formation when they did not have the possession of the ball. Ramsey started on the right wing, but he dropped deep, alongside Coquelin and Elneny, to form a three-man midfield. This helped them in negating Tottenham's attacking trio of Lamela, Alli and Eriksen – all of whom moved infield from the wings. Ramsey moving to a central role ensured that Arsenal do not get outnumbered at the center of the park, when they did not have the ball.

Ozil held his position ahead of the midfield three, while Sanchez moved forward to join Welbeck upfront. The Chilean and the Englishman have wonderful work-ethic, and duo pressed hard to ensure that the Tottenham defenders did not have too much time on the ball to pick out passes.

When Arsenal won back the ball, Ramsey moved back to the right wing, and Arsenal moved back to the 4-2-3-1 formation.

Arsenal laid the trap on the left to release Bellerin on the right

On a football pitch a team often has to make conscious choices about the spaces they will concede to the opponent, and ones they will dominate. Tottenham's primary creative force is Eriksen, and his presence on Arsenal's left wing, drew a lot of attention from the Gunners.

It started with Elneny moving out wide to help Gibbs and mark Eriksen, and eventually ended with both the teams overloaded on Arsenal's left wing/ Tottenham's right wing and this had repercussions. Both the teams sacrificed symmetry for balance, and as a result, a lot of space opened up on the other side of the pitch. The Tottenham defence shifted to their right, with Rose moving in along with his center backs, as showed in the image above, and it seemed only a matter of time before Bellerin exploited that space.

In the 39th minute, Welbeck picked out Bellerin at the edge of the box, and Danny Rose was again out of position and he left acres of space open for the Arsenal right back to run on to. This led to the delightful flick from Ramsey which provided the visitors the lead at the White Hart Lane.

Tottenham responded by exploiting Bellerin's biggest weakness

The match highlighted all the different shades of Hector Bellerin – the good, the bad and the brilliant. While the Spaniard enjoyed, and utilized, all the space afforded to him in the first half, Tottenham responded by exploiting his biggest weakness in the second half – lack of positional sense.

The former Barcelona right back has a lot of exciting qualities, but most of them are useful only when he is able to attack an opponent. Defensively, his positional sense is his biggest drawback – something he will develop with age and experience. His electric pace allows him to recover, in most occasions, even if he is caught out of position – but not always. The youngster was responsible, at least partially, for two of the most important events in the second half – Coquelin's sending off and Kane's goal.

In the 55th minute, the match turned on its head when Francis Coquelin made a foolish mistake of tackling Kane from behind, even though he was already on a yellow card, and receiving his marching orders. The Frenchman has drawn a lot of criticism for his irresponsible action, which left his team in a fix, specially since Wenger had specially warned him about the same during the halftime.

However, Bellerin must shoulder as much blame.

Arsenal were caught out by a simple clearance from the back and Bellerin was caught long way off from his defensive position. Kane ran into the space left behind by the right back, and Coquelin had to move over to the wings to cover for him.

In the 62nd minute, Arsenal were again caught out by another long ball down their right wing, and this time Kane scored a stunning goal to given the lead to the home side. Bellerin moved out of his position, in order to mark Rose, and left space behind him for Kane to run on to.

Mertesacker followed Kane to the byline, but was outnumbered by Alli and the Tottenham striker. Once both Bellerin and Mertesacker were out of position, Kane had a lot of space in front of him to take the ball inside the box, take aim, and find the top corner of the net. Bellerin tried to scamper back in order to close him down, but this time his pace was not enough.

However, the 20-year-old also showed what he can do at the other end of the pitch, when he played in Alexis Sanchez in the 76th minute, with a perfectly waited pass – that even Mesut Ozil would have been proud of – and the Chilean scored the equalizer to earn a point for his side.

Arsenal's zonal marking system caught out again

The equalizer Arsenal conceded in the 60th minute arrived from a corner, and once again questions were raised about the zonal marking system deployed by the Gunners.

Alderweireld, Alli and Dier's run gathered all the attention from the Arsenal defenders, but no one picked up the late run of Erik Lamela. The Argentine got a free run onto the ball, and his blocked shot reached Alderweireld at the far post, who scored from a tight angle. As the saying goes – It is man who scores the goal, not the space – and Arsenal were too busy marshaling the later.