Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Video
Football, as I have often said, is a bit mental, and yesterday’s North London provided the full gamut of hilarity, quality, and terror – but thankfully Arsenal came away from White Hart Lane with all three points.
Mikel Arteta named an unchanged side from Tuesday’s 5-0 win over Chelsea, and I think it’s fair to say that our first half was a bit odd. We didn’t play with the kind of security you’ve come to expect from this Arsenal side, turning over possession in scrappy fashion, giving encouragement to the opposition, but at the same time we were dangerous.
Kai Havertz had the ball in the back of the net but the flag went up, and just a minute later we were ahead when a Declan Rice shot deflected behind for a corner. Bukayo Saka took it, the Arsenal players moved through the Spurs box like migrating geese, causing so much confusion Hojberg headed into his own net. Ben White fiddling with the Vicario’s gloves as the corner was being taken was both hilarious, and a demonstration that they didn’t do their homework, because leaving him alone to annoy the goalkeeper at this point of the season is quite the oversight.
At the other end though, Spurs caused us problems from corners. Romero headed just wide, then headed one onto the post, before they had the ball in the net via van de Ven, but it was ruled out for a very tight offside. Close calls. They had two shouts for a penalty just before our second goal, but for me, neither of them were. The first was Kulusevski clipping his own heels, perhaps there was a tiny touch by Trossard but it was so minimal if it happened it didn’t warrant a spot kick. The other was when James Maddison tried to cheat, and the ref was having none of it. Because he knows Maddison is a little cheat – witness him going to ground holding his face when he and Tomiyasu were grappling from a corner later on. There was no contact on his face. He’s just a diver who…
Source link : https://arseblog.com/2024/04/spurs-2-3-arsenal-saka-and-havertz-shine-in-chaotic-derby-win/
Author : arseblog
Publish date : 2024-04-29 06:11:00
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