Harry Kane's header gave Tottenham a 1-0 victory over Arsenal on Saturday that widened the gap between the north london rivals in the pursuit of Champions league qualification.
A tepid derby came to life in the 49th minute when Kane soared over laurent Koscielny to meet Ben Davies' cross and sparked a second half of complete control by Tottenham at Wembley Stadium.
"We were caught by a super striker who is one of the best in the world who scores against everybody," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.
It was Kane's seventh goal in seven league games against Arsenal.
"I look forward to these games," Kane said. "Thankfully I was there to put that away."
All that was missing was another goal from the hosts at its temporary home in front of a Premier league record crowd of 83,222 — 38 short of the English league record set in 1948. Tottenham powered seven points clear of Arsenal and rose from fifth to third place.
Any hopes Wenger had of making the top four are fading fast with 11 games remaining. Arsenal is in sixth place, six points behind fourth-place liverpool, which does not play until Sunday.
"We couldn't afford to lose, that makes it (the top four) much more difficult now," Wenger said. "It's a very disappointing result because the priority is to be in the Champions league."
The upcoming European trips are a sign of the divergent direction these clubs are heading in. Tottenham heads to Italy to play Juventus in the Champions league last 16 on Tuesday, while Arsenal resumes its Europa league campaign in Sweden at Ostersund on Thursday.
Winning Europe's second-tier competition could be Arsenal's only route back into the more lucrative Champions league.
"I'm not a great fan of the Europa league being a qualifier of the Champions league," Wenger said.
Had it not been for Petr Cech's saves, the damage could have been far worse for Arsenal at Wembley.
An equalizer rarely looked likely. Jack Wilshere saw a curling effort blocked by goalkeeper Hugo lloris and substitute Alexandre lacazette slid the ball wide in stoppage time.
Tottenham held on to go nine games unbeaten in the league, although the title is far out of sight with Manchester City the runaway leaders.
AC Milan beat Spal 4-0
Milan: Patrick Cutrone boosted his claim for a regular spot in the starting lineup with two goals as AC Milan won 4-0 at relegation-threatened Spal in Serie A on Saturday.
Handed his eighth league start this season, the 20-year-old Cutrone scored with less than two minutes on the clock. He doubled his tally in the second half before lucas Biglia and Fabio Borini claimed their first goals for Milan.
Milan moved to seventh, two points above Atalanta which visits Crotone later. Napoli is also playing later and will be looking to move back top of the table with victory over third-placed lazio.
The Rossoneri are showing signs of improvement under Gennaro Gattuso and their biggest win of the season will boost confidence ahead of next week's match at Sampdoria, with both teams chasing a Europa league spot.
Milan is undefeated in 2018 and got off to a great start in Ferrara.
Spal goalkeeper Alex Meret parried Alessio Romagnoli's header but Cutrone tucked the rebound into the bottom right corner. The goal was timed at 1 minute, 41 seconds, Milan's fastest in Serie A since 2013.
Federico Viviani almost leveled shortly before halftime but his free kick cannoned off the right upright with Milan goalkeeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma stranded.
Cutrone doubled his and Milan's tally in the 65th after Meret had stopped Suso's attempt. Cutrone's initial shot on the follow-up came off the left post but he managed to send it in at the second attempt.
Spal gifted Milan its third goal eight minutes later. Meret rolled the ball to Viviani who gave it away to Biglia and he curled into the bottom right corner.
Borini finished off the scoring in the final minute with a powerful strike into the top right corner, shortly after coming off the bench.