EPL Winners and Losers After Sunday's 2019 Week 4 Premier League Results

Arsenal fought back from 2-0 down to earn a 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur, thanks to goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, in the first north London derby of the 2019/20 Premier League season on Sunday.

The Gunners overcome a rough performance from Granit Xhaka, who gave away a penalty Harry Kane converted for Spurs' second at the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal's fightback hinged on attacking Davinson Sanchez, who looked out of sorts after being pressed into service as a makeshift right-back to cover injuries.

Tottenham's depleted ranks make it a worthy point for Mauricio Pochettino, who spent the week leading up to the game dodging questions about his future. By contrast, Unai Emery would have expected more with Arsenal being on home soil, but the Spaniard at least knows he has a potential star in club-record signing Nicolas Pepe, after the winger once again showed glimpses of his outrageous talent.

The day began with a former Arsenal player, Alex Iwobi, netting his second goal in as many matches as Everton beat Wolverhampton Wanderers at Goodison Park. Richarlison bagged a brace for the Toffees, while the visitors found the net through Romain Saiss and Raul Jimenez.

Sunday Scores

• Everton 3-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers
• Arsenal 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur

Winner: Mauricio Pochettino

It had been a gruelling week for Pochettino, who dealt with a lengthy injury list under the scrutiny of speculation about his future. As recently as Friday, the Argentinian told a press conference rumours he would leave after the derby were "stupid."

Reassuring the doubters he was staying was probably right at the bottom of Pochettino's to-do list while he tried to manage the injuries. Club-record signing Tanguy Ndombele, holding midfielder Eric Dier, centre-back Juan Foyth and right-back Kyle Walker-Peters were among those on the treatment table ahead of a game Tottenham always want to win.

Using what he had, Pochettino cleverly reshuffled the pack to surprise the Gunners with a flat 4-4-2 shape. It gave Spurs two rigid blocks in midfield and defence, denying Arsenal spaces to thread passes between the lines.

Tottenham's tactical shape also made it easier to counter at pace, with front two Kane and Heung-Min Son isolated against plodding Arsenal centre-backs David Luiz and Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

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Spurs' speed on the break caused the hosts a myriad of problems early on. Runners from midfield combined for the first goal after Erik Lamela's shot was parried by Bernd Leno into the path of Christian Eriksen.

Kane and Son's movement also proved difficult to track, with the latter winning the penalty.

Pochettino made other big calls, like starting Eriksen, despite the want-away playmaker continuing to be linked with Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, per Simon Mullock of the Sunday Mirror.

Calls like these weren't the actions of a manager who doubts his ability and motivation to do the job. Pochettino delivered an emphatic statement he is still up for the challenge of taking Spurs to new heights.

Winner: Nicolas Pepe

A price tag eventually set to be worth £72 million brings its own pressures, but Nicolas Pepe continues to appear unfazed. The former Lille star built on his tantalising first start against Liverpool last week with more of the same, more pace, more trickery, and more flair and vision.

It was Pepe who saw the pass for Lacazette in the box just before the break. The Frenchman turned it into a goal and destroyed Tottenham's comfort zone.

More than the tangible contribution, Pepe was willing to run at Spurs and try a trick whenever he got the ball. In keeping with the mercurial nature of his position, not every bit of wizardry yielded magic to hurt the opposition.

Even so, Pepe added a flourish to Arsenal's play and a buzz to the atmosphere in the home stadium:

Arsenal haven't had a player capable of raising the pulses like this since Alexis Sanchez was in peak form. Pepe needs end product to kick the start of his career with the Gunners into high gear, but the early evidence says goals and assists will surely soon follow.

Loser: Davinson Sanchez

Davinson Sanchez won't be thanked by his team-mates if he raised his hand and volunteered to help solve Spurs' problem at right-back. He discovered shifting out wide at the back demands a whole new set of skills to cope.

He was run ragged by Aubameyang early on, before Pepe took the opportunity to chance his luck against a defender out of his depth. Even when Aubameyang moved into the middle, where he belongs, after Lacazette's substitution in the second half, Arsenal still found going after Sanchez the best route to goal.

Lacazette's replacement, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, combined brilliantly with Sead Kolasinac, with Sanchez struggling to decide whether to go and push out in search of the ball or tuck in.

The Colombia international was gassed by the end of the game. Yet while he'd been exposed time and time again, Sanchez, like the rest of the Tottenham defence, had just about survived.

Loser: Granit Xhaka

It's one of football's most confounding anomalies that a player with the languid technique and creative radar of Granit Xhaka loses his cool so easily under pressure. The midfielder was once again anything but a calming influence against a top-six opponent, committing fouls with such regularity it only seemed a matter of time before he was shown a red card.

Xhaka somehow escaped an early dismissal, even after he went through Son to give away a spot-kick. The moment of madness was an all-too-familiar sight for those connected with Arsenal:

Most players would have taken the lucky escape from more severe punishment as a reprieve and encouragement to curb their aggressive instincts. Xhaka doesn't play by those rules, though, and continued to inspire terror among the home support with his decision-making.

When the inevitable booking arrived in stoppage time, the question for referee Martin Atkinson was an obvious one. What took you so long?

Those wondering why Xhaka still gets in the team when he's this mistake-prone need only look at some of the inch-perfect passes he sprayed around during the second half. Yet cultured distribution surely is no longer enough to outweigh all those harmful errors in judgement.

Xhaka's ongoing talent for self-destruction is in sharp contrast to the maturity beyond his years shown by 20-year-old Matteo Guendouzi:

The Frenchman, along with Lucas Torreira, Real Madrid loanee Dani Ceballos and academy graduate Joe Willock, gives Emery enough options to consider moving on from Xhaka.