English Premier League Match Review:
It’s him again. These were the verses that were echoing around the gates of White Hart Lane today after the referee blown the whistle on full time. Going back a goal down courtesy to some brilliant finishing by Mesut Ozil, Harry Kane – along with his team mates – didn’t looked back as the Whites piled the misery on Arsene Wenger’s men.
Here are 6 things that we learned from this particular fixture: –
Harry Kane is a rare breed
Coming into this back on the back of impressive performances, Harry Kane made sure that he delivered when it counted the most. Even though they were pegged back in the first half, it was a result of resilience shown by the Englishman that Tottenham salvaged a win today.
With his brace against Arsenal, Kane has taken his season’s goal tally to 12 goals, getting on par with his North London rival Alexis Sanchez who also has 12 goals to his name.
Arsenal came with a plan – it failed miserably
Although Arsene Wenger’s teams are known for taking the game to the opposition, their recent win against Manchester City might have provided them a new dimension towards the game: defend tightly and attack on the counter.
This was the philosophy with which they visited their neighbors, however, bar that Mesut Ozil goal which was shear out of a counter-attack, Arsenal were an easy meal for the high tempo Spurs side. Although they had the legs to attack in shape of Cazorla and Ramsey, this policy limited their roles to defense as a result of which Arsenal suffered.
Cazorla had a rare bad game
Coming into this match knowing the fact that Sanchez has been sidelined, Arsenal fans would have associated their hopes with the Spaniard. And looking at his most recent form, Cazorla was tipped to succeed in the North London derby. Having 6 goals to his name – which is the most by any Arsenal midfield this season, Cazorla was tipped as to be the destroyer of Tottenham today.
However, before his substitution took place today, Cazorla looked a shadow of a player of which he was in the last match. Playing against Dembele and Bentaleb in the Spurs midfield, Cazorla was displaced from the ball more than once.
Thus, while Harry Kane is a primary reason for the defeat of the Gunners’ today, it was the fall of Cazorla that lead to the win for Spurs in actual.
Tottenham into the top 4
Although both Manchester United and Southampton have to play lately, this win has granted Tottenham a place in the top 4: albeit for little time. After they have delivered a statement earlier in the season after defeating Chelsea, this was the match which would have paved their way further and Mauricio Pochettino’s men didn’t looked back.
Tottenham deserved the win
If you believe in stats, Tottenham were dominant there as well today. Having recorded 23 shots on Arsenal’s goal 8 of which were on target, Spurs might have scored 3 or 4 barring the form Ospina was in today. Although the Arsenal goal-keeper suffered a knee injury today, he was their standout performer today.
Battle for top 4 is rightly poised
At a time when the battle at the top of Premier League table has melted down a bit, top 4’s battle is keeping the fans of the Premier League nicely poised. Courtesy to that win of Tottenham which has lifted them to 4th in the table, only 5 points separate the teams across the top 7.
With Tottenham to visit Anfield early next week, battle for top 4 could take a new dimension coming next week. Thus, similar to the novels of Mark Twain which has a large number of sub-plots in it, the battle for top 4 has some un-seen behaviors left in it.
Full time Tottenham 2-1 Arsenal
Barclays Premier League: Tottenham 2-1 Arsenal: 6 things we learned from the North London Derby
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