Gunners cruise to derby win

Arsenal convincingly won the first north London derby 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium even without injured skipper Thierry Henry.

Gilberto, standing in as captain, scored in each half from the penalty spot after Emmanuel Adebayor, leading the attack in the Henry's absence, opened the scoring.

Adebayor ran straight to the dug-out after breaking the deadlock and celebrated with Henry, who earlier in the day denied a rift with boss Arsene Wenger after a neck injury prevented him from playing.

Even without their talisman, Arsenal looked purposeful early on and had a tame penalty appeal turned down by referee Graham Poll when Freddie Ljungberg went over in the area following a challenge from Michael Dawson.

Spurs fashioned their first chance in the 11th minute when Steed Malbranque sliced wide, while Dimitar Berbatov was harshly ruled offside three minutes later.

But the hosts were ahead in the 20th minute when Kolo Toure surged forward and played the ball over the top and Adebayor was played onside by Spurs full-back Pascal Chimbonda. The Togo striker calmly slotted past Paul Robinson then ran over to the bench and embraced Henry.

Ljungberg had the chance to double the lead two minutes later but volleyed over from a tight angle, while Didier Zokora needed to make a timely challenge on Cesc Fabregas from a similar position.

Arsenal were 2-0 ahead from Gilberto's penalty after Chimbonda was adjudged to have been brought down by Tomas Rosicky in the 41st minute, although the French full-back appeared to get the slightest touches on the ball with his tackle.

Spurs brought on Jermaine Jenas for Malbranque at the break, while Assou-Ekotto was replaced by Lee Young-Pyo. Jenas forced a hurried save from Lehmann with a swerving shot and Aaron Lennon's follow-up effort was blocked by Toure.

But Gilberto extended the lead, this time sending Robinson the wrong way with a spot-kick, after Jenas hauled down Van Persie in the area with 20 minutes remaining, with the Spurs midfielder booked.