Gibbs thwarts Spurs in London derby; City held – Palace inflict first defeat on Liverpool boss Klopp

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LONDON, Nov 8, (Agencies): Arsenal substitute Kieran Gibbs scored three minutes after coming on to earn his side a 1-1 draw in Sunday’s north London derby and deny Tottenham Hotspur a famous victory.

Harry Kane’s 32nd-minute goal, his sixth in four games, put Spurs on course for a first win at the Emirates Stadium in five years, but after Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech had prevented the visitors from swelling their lead, Mesut Ozil teed up Gibbs for a 77th-minute equaliser.

Victory would have sent Arsenal to the top of the Premier League table, following Manchester City’s earlier goalless draw at Aston Villa, but having seen his team humiliated 5-1 by Bayern Munich on Wednesday, manager Arsene Wenger will have been hugely relieved by Gibbs’s strike.

The left-back’s goal, his first in over a year, left Spurs three points off the Champions League places and five points below second-place Arsenal.

But while visiting manager Mauricio Pochettino could count himself unfortunate not to have emerged victorious, his side have now gone 11 league games unbeaten and look strong contenders for a top-four berth.

Fit again after a hip complaint, Laurent Koscielny replaced Gabriel at centre-back in the only change to the Arsenal team torn apart by Bayern as Wenger’s side went in search of a sixth successive league win.

Arsenal had bounced back from their previous Champions League defeat, at home to Olympiakos, by putting Manchester United to the sword and they looked to make a similarly quick start here.

Alexis Sanchez picked out Joel Campbell, who kept his place in the absence of Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey, with an early pass across the box, but the Costa Rican erred in using his left foot to receive the ball and the chance fled.

Aston Villa 0, City 0

In Birmingham, Manchester City’s shortage of recognised strikers was glaringly exposed in a goalless draw away to bottom club Aston Villa on Sunday that saw them squander the chance to consolidate their position at the top of the Premier League.

Manuel Pellegrini lost the services of Wilfried Bony to a hamstring injury and then watched in frustration as City failed to make their second-half domination count in a match where Villa ended a dismal run of seven successive defeats.

City had to operate without a recognised frontman for more than an hour, although Raheem Sterling, Kevin de Bruyne and Fernando all wasted gilt-edged chances to wrap up all three points in the closing stages.

It meant that Frenchman Remi Garde claimed a valuable point in his first game as Villa manager to stop the rot which led to his appointment as the successor to Tim Sherwood, although a draw still left the Birmingham club at the foot of the table.

City were left ruing the missed chances, and the continued absence of Sergio Aguero, as they had to settle for a share of the spoils in a game they were expected to win comfortably.

The return of former City defender Micah Richards was one of six changes made by Garde to Villa’s starting side from the team beaten at Tottenham Hotspur six days earlier.

Liverpool 1, Palace 2

In London, Juergen Klopp tasted defeat for the first time as Liverpool manager after Crystal Palace’s Scott Dann scored with eight minutes remaining to grab a 2-1 win at Anfield on Sunday.

Liverpool, who made a draining Europa League trip to play Rubin Kazan in Russia on Thursday, fell behind after 20 minutes when Yannick Bolasie fired powerfully home after some poor defending by the hosts.

Standings

                               P             W            D             L              GF          GA          Pts

Man City              12           8              2              2              26           9              26

Arsenal                 12           8              2              2              22           9              26

Leicester              12           7              4              1              25           20           25

Man Utd              12           7              3              2              17           8              24

Tottenham         12           5              6              1              20           10           21

West Ham           12           6              3              3              23           16           21

Southampton    12           5              5              2              19           13           20

Crystal Palace    12           6              1              5              14           12           19

Everton                12           4              5              3              20           16           17

Liverpool             12           4              5              3              13           14           17

Watford               12           4              4              4              11           12           16

Stoke                    12           4              4              4              10           12           16

West Brom         12           4              2              6              10           16           14

Swansea              12           3              4              5              12           16           13

Norwich               12           3              3              6              16           23           12

Chelsea                12           3              2              7              16           23           11

Newcastle           12           2              4              6              13           22           10

Bournemouth   12           2              2              8              12           25           8

Sunderland         12           1              3              8              13           26           6

Aston Villa           12           1              2              9              10           20           5

Note: Standings read as played, won, drawn, goals for, goals against and points.

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