Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta felt victory over Tottenham in the north London derby should give his players belief they can challenge at the top of the Premier League.

The Gunners were full value for their 3-1 victory, gaining revenge for Tottenham's win across north London in May, which effectively condemned their opponents to the Europa League.

They opened the scoring through Thomas Partey's fine 25-yard strike and, after Harry Kane scored his 14th goal in 18 north London derbies from the spot, Arteta's side stepped up after the break.

Gabriel Jesus bundled home after a poor Hugo Lloris error and moments after Emerson Royal's red card Granit Xhaka killed the game.

The three points continued Arsenal's excellent start to the season and Arteta said: "For me the message is to the players and everybody here at the club that we are able to play at this level against this kind of opponent. That should give them confidence and belief.

"It's great. Looking at the table and seeing the club in this position is great. It gives you a great feeling obviously. But we are focused.

"It's a really hungry and humble team, believe me. It's nothing that we have done yet and there's still a lot of things to improve. That's the direction we're taking.

"We just started and we're really happy with where we are. The table says what it says and we don't look at that.

"Great performance, a great day. It was an incredible atmosphere to play in so I'm so grateful to the people who connect to the team in such a special way.

"I'm really happy because it's an opportunity to get a lot of people happy and proud and I think we delivered that to all of them."

Tottenham boss Antonio Conte suggested referees and VAR officials are letting the Premier League down and said England could follow Italy's example to improve standards.

Conte was speaking after Emerson's straight red card for a tackle on Gabriel Martinelli, with Spurs capitulating in the second half.

Conte, who initially said he did not want to comment on the decision, then unwound and insisted the standard of officiating is not good enough.

"In England I have to be honest, it is very difficult because there isn't the same line," he said.

"Sometimes you see a situation that could be a red card and instead is a yellow card or no yellow card, sometimes you see a situation that is a yellow card and you see a red card.

"They have to work a lot about this. In Italy, they go on Thursday and stay together for three days to work together, to look at the video and try and improve.

"I don't know if they do that in this country but it would be a good idea because the level is so high and we need the level of the referee and VAR the same.

"The Premier League is a really high level and for this reason every part of this situation has to be top.

"Honestly, for sure the player is frustrated because he knows what happened, he knows the difficulty we had after the red card. It can happen.

"Emerson is a young player, he is only 23, I think he has to try and exploit this situation to be better and in the next situation avoid totally the tackle.

"Honestly, the player was really surprised, not only him, but all of the players."