Our young Gunners completed a dramatic north London derby comeback to beat 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur in the U18 Premier League South.
A goalless opening 45 was dwarfed by two quick goals after the interval, with Joel Vidal-Philbert scoring before Mylo Bernard found the perfect rebuttal a minute later.
Despite no recognised goalkeeper on the field late on, Bernard defied the odds in stoppage time, smashing home his second to seal a thrilling victory over our rivals.
FIRST HALF
It was an end-to-end start, with Oliver Boast first clipping the bar for Spurs before our own attack saw Maalik Hashi’s shot rebound to Bernard, whose effort was tipped over the upright.
Jaden Maghoma came close to breaking the deadlock before half-time, receiving a squared pass from Hakeem Abubakar, but his shot whisked past the post.
SECOND HALF
Tottenham took the lead shortly after the restart, as Cayon Hanson marauded through our midfield and played it out wide to Vidal-Philbert, whose shot caught Jack Talbot off guard, leaving our goalkeeper unable to get a strong hand to it.
We found a response straight from kick-off, as Abubakar's run down the left flank led to a cross into the box, where Bernard got in front of his defender to guide the ball into the back of the net for 1-1.
An eventful spell for Talbot saw our no. 1 make a superb fingertip save to deny Armend Muslika's free-kick from 20 yards, before being forced off following a collision with Boast and replaced by Maximillian Lo Presti.
Our substituted goalkeeper was then caught up in a clatter himself, as he attempted to collect a cross but was caught in the air by Phoenix Offiah and had to be taken off, leaving us without a natural stopper between the sticks.
The void in goal was filled by Emerson Nwaneri, who did brilliantly to withstand Tottenham's attacks as time ticked beyond the 90.
There was still time for late NLD drama and, with seconds on the clock, Nwaneri sent a free-kick long to Luis Munoz and out wide to Bernard.
Our striker cut inside and smashed the ball in off the bar from distance, completing an incredible turnaround and a 2-1 victory over Spurs.
WHAT IT MEANS
We extend our winning run to five across all competitions and have halted the league leaders, narrowing the gap to just three points.
Continuing to climb the table, we now sit fourth in the U18 Premier League South on 13 points.
WHAT'S NEXT
Many of our young Gunners will feature in midweek UEFA Youth League action, against Bayern Munich on Wednesday, October 21.
LINE-UPS
Arsenal XI: Talbot (Lo Presti 75, Sesay 89), Abubakar, Mbala, McCarron (Pedro 79), Owusu-Gyasi, Purdy (Odaji-Ukueku 61), Murisa, Nwaneri, Hashi (Donczew 61), Bernard, Maghoma (Munoz 45).
Subs: Stachow.
Tottenham Hotspur XI: Jack, Sandiford, Jobling, Hanson, Tingey (Evans 63), Senyah, Coffi-Smith (Beckles 70), Glancy (Offiah 59), Boast, Muslika (Salter 87), Vidal-Philbert (Olajide 82).
