Dele Alli is a curious talent. There are games that he will absolutely dominate and then there are ones in which he is largely anonymous. However, thereās rarely one that he fails to leave his mark on.
The North London derby on Sunday was a quiet one for the Englishman for a the most part but it was him who made the breakthrough.
His movement was slight but ever so crucial. After carrying the ball into the box, it fell to Christian Eriksenās feet and when the Dane made space for himself, Alli duly drifted into the perfect position and was on hand to eventually stab the loose ball in.
Itās that instinctive movement that changed the game and a second soon followed for Spurs when Harry Kane converted from the spot.
THREE KEY MOMENTS
22ā² ā A great chance goes begging. Kane holds up the ball before attempting a shot at goal which deflects perfectly into Alliās path. The midfielder is put off by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlainās challenge and ends up sending his header wide when he had the goal at his mercy.
24ā² ā Just two minutes later, Victor Wanyama powered down the left flank before and played in Alli. The 21-year-old did well to find his way through a couple of Arsenal shirts before being stopped by Gabriel before he could do any real damage.
55ā² ā The damage was always coming though and Alli inflicted it early in the second half. He was alert enough to follow in Eriksenās shot and turned in the rebound after Petr Cechās save.
KEY STATS
Alli has been in scintillating form of late and Mauricio Pochettino will be glad that heās come good at the business end of the season.
Whatās been great for Spurs in terms of Alliās goal-scoring is that itās been spread out well of late. Heās scored regularly rather than in bulk.
It wasnāt easy from the off for the youngster though as both he and Kane struggled to get involved with the teamās play for much of the first half.