Arsenal hung on for a thrilling 3-2 triumph over rivals Tottenham in the North London derby on Sunday to maintain their Premier League lead.

Mikel Arteta's side stunned Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a three-goal burst before half-time, looking to stay one step ahead of Manchester City in the title chase.

Arsenal took the lead on an own goal by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, followed by goals from Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz, who put Arsenal in complete control.

Tottenham's Cristian Romero and Son Heung-min scored after the break, setting up a nail-biting conclusion, but Arsenal held on.

Arsenal are four points ahead of second-placed City, who play struggling Nottingham Forest later on Sunday in the first of two games in hand over the Gunners.

If City win their final five matches, they will win a remarkable fourth consecutive English title.

However, Arsenal are doing everything they can to make Pep Guardiola's team sweat as they strive to make apologies for losing an eight-point lead in last season's title chase.

After a devastating home defeat to Aston Villa and a Champions League quarter-final exit to Bayern Munich, the Gunners have recovered admirably.

Arteta challenged his players to demonstrate their drive for achievement, knowing they had little tolerance for error with City after them. They answered.

Arsenal's 5-0 thrashing of old rivals Chelsea on Tuesday was only the appetizer before the main entrée, which was delivered to 3,000 joyful fans jammed into one corner of the stadium.

Arsenal memorably won the league twice in Tottenham's former White Hart Lane stadium, in 1971 and 2004.

The Gunners were unable to claim silverware on enemy territory this time, but their fifth win in the past seven north London derbies maintained them in contention to win the crown for the first time in 20 years.

The result was a painful blow for fifth-place Tottenham, who trail fourth-place Aston Villa by seven points with two games remaining to save their fading Champions League aspirations.

Tottenham, playing for the first time since a 4-0 defeat at Newcastle 15 days earlier, should have been fresher than an Arsenal team that had played four times in that time span.

However, Arsenal emerged from the frenetic melee to take the lead due to a welcome gift from Hojbjerg.

Arsenal survives.

Saka's corner looped into the six-yard box, where Hojbjerg attempted to head clear in front of Arsenal's Takehiro Tomiyasu but instead directed the ball into his own net.

Romero should have leveled when Arsenal's David Raya mishandled James Maddison's free-kick, allowing the defender to rise for a close-range header that he somehow directed against the post rather than into the empty net.

Mickey van de Ven thought he had equalised for Tottenham after Pedro Porro's strike rebounded into his path, but VAR ruled the centre-back was slightly offside.

Arteta's players celebrated the decision as if they had scored themselves, which they were doing in the 27th minute.

Havertz played a great long pass to Saka on the right flank, and the winger surged at Ben Davies before cutting inside and beating Guglielmo Vicario with a perfect low effort from 12 yards.

Arsenal were ruthless in front of goal, and Havertz scored their third with a well-executed corner routine in the 38th minute.

Tottenham's zone-marking stances left a group of Arsenal players, including Havertz, unmarked as they made late runs into the box, allowing the German to score off Rice's corner with a close range header.

But Tottenham refused to give up, and Romero cut the deficit in the 64th minute, capitalizing on Raya's laughably awful ball to score from the edge of the area.

Rice set up Arsenal's needlessly stressful conclusion with a harsh foul on Davies, resulting in a penalty that Son converted past Raya in the 87th minute.

In Sunday's other early kickoff, Bournemouth defeated Brighton 3-0 thanks to goals from Marcos Senesi, Enes Unai, and Justin Kluivert.