Revealed: Why 'nonsense' stoppages disrupted Arsenal's hammering of Tottenham in north London derby

Arsenal poured more misery on neighbours Tottenham with a victory that will bring fresh optimism the Gunners can end their long wait to be crowned champions of England once again. Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres both scored twice for Mikel Arteta's side as the Gunners bounced back from a disappointing defeat to bottom side Wolves last time out. The result means that interim Tottenham boss Igor Tudor tasted defeat in his first game in charge and leaves Spurs still in danger of relegation. Tottenham sit just four points above the relegation zone with 11 games of the Premier League season left to play.

Sunday's game was not without incident, with the match officials in the spotlight as the game was twice held up due to problems with their technology. According to the Daily Mail, the issues were down to "frequency interference and equipment issues." The first delay lasted six minutes and saw assistant referee Blake Antrobus struggling with frequency interference. The problem meant that the match referee and his officials could not communicate with the VAR team.

The second delay occurred at the start of the second half and saw the other assistant referee, Eddie Smart, hit with another technical problem. Tech providers Hawkeye are now set to send a full report to the PGMOL about the problems that occurred during the game.

The stoppages drew plenty of criticism from those watching. Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville said: "The game can't be stopped for two minutes because a linesman can't communicate with a referee. We did 100 years without it so we can play here. The whole crowd is now waiting because of an IT issue. This is absolute nonsense. One of the most important games of the season, fantastic start to it, quick, and we are now two or three minutes stopped and they will have to warm up again, reset, an absolute shambles."

Arteta also shared his thoughts on the situation: "Every time we are late out of the dressing room, we get huge fines, so I said to them, who's going to get this fine because that's six, seven, eight, nine minutes, so someone is going to get a big fine. I'm sure that everyone is going to look at Sky, Sky probably to the Premier League, the Premier League to Sky, so, yeah, we've got one in the bag now."

The delays may have been frustrating for Arteta but the Arsenal boss was pleased with his side's win and feels it could be a turning point in their season.

He said after the game: "I am very, very proud and very happy, not for today, but what happened in the last three days because we said: OK, let's love the players when they need it the most. But as well, sometimes the coaches and the staff, we need some love as well. We need some people around them with positivity, drive and who stand up next to you when we need them. And it's been really, really good to work with them in the last few days.

"It feels like we've shown what we are made of but then you have to show it again and again and again, because if you have to just analyse how you feel after every game, I mean it's a massive rollercoaster and it's not sustainable. So, we've done great today, I think we're all very proud of the manner in which we won the game, not only the way that we performed and we know what it means to us. We go again."

Arsenal will resume their title challenge on Sunday at home to Chelsea, while rivals Manchester City head to Leeds United. Meanwhile, Tudor will go in search of his first points as Tottenham manager away at Fulham.