Gareth Bale Scores Match Winner as Spurs Beat Arsenal 2-1

Always an entertaining matchup in the Premier League every year, The North London Derby between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal is a matchup that despite being dominated by Arsenal since the turn of the 21st Century, is always extremely intriguing.

But in the last 10 years, there was never a matchup quite as big as the one that we had today in the North London Derby, as Tottenham hosted Arsenal at White Hart Lane in a major matchup for both sides.

For Spurs, this was a matchup that was a must-win matchup, as they found themselves down by four points to Manchester City, but had a game in hand to Man City.

If Spurs managed to win, they would get within one point of the fourth spot and with Man City having their own major derby matchup with Manchester United on the weekend, a win would prove to be incredibly important to get that Champions League spot for next season.

And for Arsenal, a win was required for the Gunners to have any chance of getting their fourth Premier League trophy, as a win would put them into second place in the Premier League, but anything but a win would all but eliminate the Gunners from winning the Premier League.

And with that in mind, Harry Redknapp and Arsene Wenger pressed that into the minds of the players as they headed out onto the pitch at White Hart Lane.

And as the match begun, it lived up to its billing early on, as both sides had great chances to take the lead within the first several minutes, but each side's defenses were up to the challenge as they prevented any shots on target.

But all of that changed in the 10th minute, for off a Spurs corner that was cleared by Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia, 19-year-old Danny Rose scored while he was off balance from about 20 yards out, as he rocketed the ball past Almunia's head and into the back of the net to give Spurs a 1-0 lead.

The next major event from the match happened about 10 minutes later, when Thomas Vermaelen injured himself on a pass, and Mikael Silvestre replaced him.

As the first half headed towards its conclusion, Arsenal started to take control of the match, but the Tottenham defense was resilient, as they did not allow Arsenal to get any good shots on goal.

And as a result of that, the first half ended with Tottenham ahead of Arsenal 1-0 in the 163rd North London Derby.

As the second half begun, Spurs were able to catch Arsenal sleeping, and were able to take full advantage of their opportunity as Gareth Bale was able to stay onside and put the ball past Almunia and make the score 2-0 in favor of Tottenham.

With the goal, Spurs were able to take a huge step forward in their quest for Champions League qualification, and they were clearly in the drivers seat in this match.

In retaliation to the goal, Wenger brought on Theo Walcott before making the most eagerly awaited change in recent memory for Arsenal fans by taking out Denilson and bringing in Robin van Persie after missing the last five months due to an injury to the Dutchman's ankle.

After being brought in, van Persie brought a much-needed boost for the Gunners, as Arsenal once again started to press on the Tottenham goal.

And just five minutes from time, Arsenal got on the board as Nicklas Bendtner was able to redirect a pass from Theo Walcott just past Gomes and the two Tottenham defenders covering him as the score was now 2-1 in favor of Spurs.

But, Arsenal were not able to get another shot past Gomes tonight, as the Brazilian keeper had a spectacular night and Tottenham won their first league matchup against Arsenal since 1999 by a 2-1 score.

As a result of the win, Tottenham are now just one point behind Manchester City with five matches remaining, as Spurs have a great chance to still qualify for Europe.

Meanwhile for Arsenal, this has been a major blow to the Gunners' title hopes, as it will once again be another season for Arsenal without a trophy since they moved to the Emirates Stadium.