Explained: Why emergency in crowd stopped play during Arsenal women's WSL derby clash with Tottenham as concerned medical staff rush across pitch

The game was brought to a halt and medical staff could be seen racing across the pitch in direction of the sold-out away end. The game resumed minutes later and Spurs held on to win the game 1-0, bouncing back after their midweek penalty shootout defeat to the Gunners in the Conti Cup group stage.

The game was halted in order to allow the medical staff from both the home and away sides to run directly across the pitch and get to the away end as quickly as possible due to the medical emergency. Neither club have released any information regarding the incident as yet.

Spurs' 1-0 win is their first-ever victory over their north London rivals in the WSL. Despite an emphatic 4-1 victory over Chelsea last week and dominating for vast spells of the game, Arsenal fell behind to a Martha Thomas goal on the 58th minute. The Gunners could hardly be less clinical in front of goal, wasting chance after chance, even with all their attackers on the field. Indeed, Jonas Eidevall's side ended the game with Alessia Russo, Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead, Caitlin Foord, Cloe Lacasse and Stina Blackstenius all on the pitch but failed to find an equaliser.

Arsenal blew their chance to go above Chelsea and top of the WSL and will now have to sit on this bitter defeat until January 14 when they're next in action in the FA Women's Cup against Watford. Meanwhile, Spurs take on Sheffield United on the same day.