The Gods of football giveth and then they taketh away. Before the game very few held much hope, but 60 minutes in suddenly we were pulling back their lank hair, the blade was bared and their scalp ready for peeling, only for a typical Spurs goal to sink us. Nevertheless with time slowly eroding the disappointment of allowing two points to slip away, I am left with the feeling that it was a solid point earned.

The narrative pregame had been how Arsenal and Spurs were on different trajectories. Their six minute blitz of Aston Villa, compared to our laboured defeat to West Brom, left certain football experts as to no doubt who would win. The fact that Arsenal have laboured all season and been punished by Dortmund and Southampton in cup competitions was pushed to one side. It’s football where opinion is based on family ties, which team allowed you to live a certain lifestyle and whether or not that manager hangs out of a car window like a middle aged woman in a dark car park at midnight. We would lose 3-0 “and that’s being kind to Spurs.”

Thankfully Sky pundits, despite how highly they rate themselves, have no real power or foresight. Spurs may have arrived at the Emirates the underdog, but they left on equal standing. A point at the Emirates is a decent result. It’s one point more than last year, it’s even one more goal than we managed in 270 minutes last season, but most importantly it’s an improvement on last year, and a giant step away from last Sunday.

In an ideal world where I have a six-pack and Natalie Portman on my arm, we would go to their place and destroy them with football. Total possession, lightening movement, direction, divine skill and tactics, but we aren’t at that level yet. So we played the best way we could to achieve a result and successfully carried it out. It wasn’t fighting fire with fire; it was fighting it with brains, the right equipment and in areas where it could be controlled.

It’s one point more than last year, it’s even one more goal than we managed in 270 minutes last season

We sat deep, denied Danny Welbeck space behind us, we got all up in Jack Wilshere’s face and countered when the opportunity presented itself. In the first half they may have had all the ball but in all honesty it looked like Spurs would break the deadlock first. Nacer Chadli, Eric Lamela and Christian Eriksen all looked capable of finding the ball to split Arsenal’s centre back pairing; it’s just unfortunate that we didn’t have the belief to actually bury the half chances. In the second half though we unearthed it.

Younes Kaboul found himself in the 2011/12 Gareth Bale position and it was his intensity to press, that pushed Christian Eriksen forward to dispossess Flamini, then when the ball arrived to Lamela, unlike in the first half he found the composure and accuracy to slip in Chadli to score. The Belgian is our top scorer so far and has through the power of goals made himself unbelievably, a key player.

From a running joke and a player who constantly flattered to deceive, Chaldi is now starting to produce. His knack of being in the right place at the right time is very similar to that of Clint Dempsey but with added pace and strength. There are times when he frustrates me, when he seems to lack faith in his physicality to just run at players, but slowly that indirectness is starting to wear away. Against West Brom he was pure cut backs and turns inside, against Arsenal he was the directness we needed. I made a point a few weeks ago that perhaps Paulinho could offer us a much needed forward penetration, its seems though we have found it in Chadli. If Paulinho needs any motivation to make a starting role, or even a place on the bench his own, he should pay attention to Chadli.

Another player who harnessed the pressure of the North London derby to make a statement was Kyle Naughton. The maligned and generally mocked full-back, played a solid game despite having to thwart the onrushing Gibbs, Ozil and Sanchez, occasionally all at the same time. It was a vast improvement on recent form and his last performance at the Emirates.

There are times when Chadli frustrates me, when he seems to lack faith in his physicality to just run at players, but slowly that indirectness is starting to wear away

Naughton wasn’t alone in the back four to have enjoyed a restoring of faith in his ability. Across the field, Danny Rose, who silently has been having a strong season proved that he can be a genuine left-back and a realistic international. However once again, fate has dealt him a blow in the form of an injury. In AVB’s last season it is worth noting that in the first few games Rose was one of our best performers, but when he returned the manager had gone and we were deep into Sherwood’s mire. Rose is learning the position and suddenly it seems as if he is starting to understand it, Saturday was a big day for him and hopefully the injury isn’t too serious.

In front of Rose, was Premier League debutant and the well travelled Ryan Mason. The midfielder has spent the majority of his career away from White Hart Lane, with loans taking him from Yeovil to FC Lorient in Brittany. Many have made the point regarding Mason that he is too old and will never make it, but there is something in his advanced age that I find comforting. Not every player to grace world football was a child prodigy. In Italy for example clubs like players to “make their bones” elsewhere, at 20-21 certain players are too immature to handle the pressure. Think back when you were 21, personally I could barely hold the gaze of a good looking girl, let alone stare down a bunch of pompous over hyped athletes.

There is something in Mason’s advanced age that I find comforting. Not every player to grace world football was a child prodigy

I am not going to pretend that Mason will bloom into an Andrea Pirlo, Claudio Marchisio or even a Gennaro Gattuso, but there is something romantic about a player finding himself away from his parent club, becoming a man, having to progress the hard way. Does it mean that as a result it will mean more to him? He will focus harder, work harder? Perhaps. Look around the Premier League, there are quite a few players like Adam Lallana and Ricky Lambert who only came to prominence later in their careers.

Fundamentally though with regards the Mason, the most important factor was the improvement in Spurs’ midfield from the West Brom malfunction and this was down in a large part to the 23 year old. Two games, one goal and a starring role at the Emirates, Mason needs to stay on this trajectory.

The game itself wasn’t the spectacle we had hoped for or feared. We made them work hard, we played to our strengths, but even though we didn’t emerge with three points I take more comfort from this than the spanking handed out to QPR or the last minute win at West Ham. The team took on board a plan and ran with it. They sat when they had to, pushed when it was obvious and worked incredibly hard, had we just shown that killer instinct late in the first half, or had a realistic attacking option from the bench it may have been different, but in the end it’s a good point.