Kayode OGUNDARE @kaybaba99
Premier League title aspirants Tottenham and Arsenal squared up in a ferocious grudge match which pit the two North London rivals together.
2-2 it ended at the White Hart Lane but, apart from the dropped points which meant the three-point gap remained between both sides, there were very interesting sub-plots from the game.
Here are five of the things we learnt from watching Tottenham versus Arsenal at the Lane…
1. COQUELIN’S RED SHOWED ARSENAL’S IMBALANCE: For all their midfield gravitas, Arsenal are liable to leave a huge gap in the space between the middle-men and the centre-backs and you always expect a good team to attack them from that gaping hole. That hole, coupled with Nacho Monreal’s shortcoming at left-back and the red-card to Francis Coquelin exposed Arsenal’s soft underbelly and underlined, once again, how structurally imbalanced the team is.
One would have expected that with Coquelin’s sending off, Arsene Wenger would have withdrawn Aaron Ramsey a little bit deeper to shore up the middle since the team would be playing with a man less for over half an hour.
The gaffer didn’t do that, the team fell apart and, were Spurs more clinical, could have conceded more goals.
2. SPURS WANTED IT MORE: Tottenham had never been in with such a bright chance of winning the Premier League and White Hart Lane got behind the 11 guys on the pitch as they hunted and harried Arsenal on every spare inch of grass.
While Arsenal were tentative and attacked in sporadic patches, Spurs went about their job with a single-hearted determination that left little doubt that Pochettino’s men have the belief that this could be their year.
Even when they went behind to Aaron Ramsey’s goal, Spurs kept their balance and their head, allowing the trio of Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Mousa Dembele to probe and probe in relentless waves.
3. TOTTENHAM STILL IN AWE OF ARSENAL: Before this game, I’d made much of Tottenham’s tendency to freeze and develop cold feet when they play Arsenal. Going by results, one would think that was not the case on Saturday but if you consider the fact that Arsenal, with one man less and playing below their best snatched a draw and could have won it, then you’ll realize that Tottenham are still in awe of their North London rivals.
Like we saw against a youthful Manchester United side last week, Arsenal were there for the taking and would have fallen to any of the other top teams with such a shambolic performance in which they sparkled briefly in patches but it was enough to get a point at White Hart Lane.
Until Spurs shed their Arsenal hoodoo, somethings will always remain the same no matter how much they changed.
4. LEICESTER CITY ARE THE BIG WINNERS: Again, for the second game running, the Foxes are the biggest beneficiaries of their rivals cock-ups, admittedly after doing their own portion of the work, as they marched resolutely to a first-ever Premier League title.
First, despite dropping two vital points at home in the 2-2 draw with West Brom last Tuesday, they escaped 24 hours later as all their three closest rivals lost their games and allowed the Foxes to increase their lead by one valuable point.
On Saturday, two direct rivals playing each other meant, in the case of a win for either side that only one can pursue the Foxes while the other dropped further behind. With three points between Leicester and second-placed Tottenham before the North-London derby, a draw better Spurs and Arsenal meant Leicester could increase their lead to five with just nine games left to play.
5. TIME UP FOR WENGER: It’s sounding more like a cliché, and a wearied one at that, but the question must be asked again: when will be the appropriate time for Arsene Wenger to leave?
Without a doubt, he’s Arsenal’s most successful manager ever and his legacy will endure come what may but the 67-year old is putting Gunners fans, and himself, through unimaginable torture through his errors of omission.
That he publicly disagreed with his protégé Henry Thierry last week and the fact that there’s palpable tension and despair from fans who felt this was their best shot ever in over a decade to win the Premier League means the Frenchman is squirming under the pressure.
That he openly admitted, after the Tottenham match, that the club fans are frustrated with him is the clearest indication that his 20-year sojourn at the club should be winding down.
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