Van Persie 42, 60

Arsenal responded to the confident pre-match talk emanating from White Hart Lane with as comfortable a victory over their North London neighbours as any in recent years.

The game’s pivotal moments came shortly before the break when Spurs, disciplined if unthreatening until then, conceded two goals inside a minute.

The second of these genuinely fitted manager Harry Redknapp’s description of all three Arsenal goals as “scandalous.” And Arsenal could have added as many as necessary in the second half.

The injudicious remarks about Tottenham’s ‘stronger’ bench came back to haunt them as they were without Aaron Lennon, Jermaine Defoe and longer-term injury Luka Modric.

Arsenal, too, were missing key figures such as Tomas Rosicky, Theo Walcott and, after he limped off in the first half, Nicklas Bendtner. But their reserves of strength proved superior on the day.

The majority of the creativity came from the Gunners in the opening spell. And Spurs were grateful to much-maligned keeper Heurelho Gomes on 20 minutes when he superbly diverted Cesc Fabregas’ left-foot low drive to safety.

But three minutes before the break, Robin Van Persie squeezed a shot under Gomes at his near post from a Bacary Sagna cross to give Arsenal the lead.

And Spurs’ Wilson Palacios gave the ball away straight from the restart, Fabregas picking up possession and skilfully slaloming through what stood in as a Spurs defence before finishing superbly low to Gomes’ right.

The game ceased to be a contest on the hour mark. Referee Mark Clattenburg played a good advantage after Sagna had been fouled.

And, after everyone momentarily stopped when they saw a linesman flag, Sagna’s cross squirmed past Gomes to Van Persie who diverted it into the unguarded net.

Eduardo should have made it 4-0 late on when he beat Spurs’ offside trap but he shot wide with only a poorly-positioned Gomes to beat.