Nuno Espirito Santo took the blame for Tottenham’s 3-1 north London derby defeat by neighbours Arsenal, admitting he “did not make the right decisions”.

Tottenham had no answers for their hosts, who were spurred on by academy graduates Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka – both players scoring and assisting in an impressive victory.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang also struck as the Gunners went in three goals ahead at the interval before Son Heung-min pulled one back for a Spurs side bereft of ideas for much of the contest.

“A lot of people that we have in our organisation have a real sense of what a derby means and I think they will be proud of what they’ve seen.”

Arteta has faced criticism from some areas for most of his tenure as Arsenal boss but was happy to deliver a result in such a crucial game.

He added: “It is one of the nicest things I have experienced in this stadium. To win it, to win it in the way that we did, and to feel that connection with the team and the supporters made it really special.

“That is the beauty of this game and the danger of this game as well that things change so quickly at both ends and you always have to be alert and try to seek improvement and do better, which I believe we can still do.”