Arsenal and Tottenham players involved in mass brawl as they clash in first half after Jurrien Timber escapes red card for challenge on Pedro Porro

The north London derby lived up to its reputation as the most heated rivalry in the top flight  as the two sets of players to be separated during the first half.

The first half of the clash between Arsenal and Tottenham saw the most yellow cards in the first half of a Premier League game in history.

One of them came when Jurrien timber appeared to go over the ball as he challenged Pedro Porro.

Replays showed there wasn’t too much in it and the referee was quick to show the yellow to Timber.

And there was more for the referee to deal with as the pushing and shoving began with almost everyone getting involved. 

It started as Vicario squared up to Timber, who responded by grabbing the Tottenham man’s shirt and staring him down.

Fortunately not player took it too far in the melee and VAR deemed that no further action was necessary.

The first half was fairly uneventful aside from that with Gabriel Martinelli spurning the best chance when he was played through on the left.  

Jurrien Timber and Guglielmo Vicario squared up before both sets of players got involved

Sky pundit Jamie Redknapp believed Timber was lucky to escape with a yellow card for his challenge on Porro but few agreed on social media. 

The defender got plenty of the ball and there wasn’t much force in the challenge.