Tottenham Hotspur continued showing good form as they beat their arch-rival Arsenal in the north London derby at Wembley. With this win, the Spurs have garnered three points and have come in tough competition with others for the top four spots.
The first half remained pretty even but in the second Harry Kane fired a goal to take the home side to victory. With this win, the Spurs have now gotten seven points clear of Arsenal. In a way, this seemed like the perfect revenge for the 2-0 defeat at the Emirates last November.
Kane who just completed his 100 Premier League goals in the game last weekend against Liverpool was in great form in this game as well. The striker who was released from Arsenal as an 8-year-old has proved yet again how wrong the Gunners were.
In this north London derby, the first half remained very tight and tense with both teams failing to score any goal. In the 27th minute, Harry Kane reached very close to taking the lead for his team as he found the clipped cross of Christian Eriksen but only managed to head it over Petr Cech.
Kane showed his brilliance in the second half though. With just four minutes into the second half, he headed the cross of Ben Davies into the bottom corner for a superb goal. This was his seventh league goal in a north London derby. He might have scored in the next five minutes as well when he headed the cross from Moussa Dembele which narrowly missed the nets.
Further chances came for the Spurs in the second half but they could not extend their lead. However, they did manage to survive the Arsenal assault during the final minutes which was quite fierce.
In the recent matches, the Spurs have been very impressive. They have beaten United 2-0 at Wembley and also earned a draw at Anfield against Liverpool. And after their win against Newport County in the FA Cup, they now have outclassed their arch-rivals Arsenal by 1-0. It looks like they will not only secure their spot in the top four but will even manage to be the closest team to the ultimate champions like last season.
Before these big three matches against United, Liverpool and Arsenal, it looked like the Spurs would be more than happy if they manage to collect the five points considering their bad form. However now they have got more than their expectations after collecting seven points with two great wins at their home along with a draw at Ainfield. These wins would go very well with their big season wins against Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.
A happy Pochettino considers this win as the perfect preparation for their upcoming match against Juventus: He said,
“It was an amazing game. I’m very pleased with the players and they deserved the full credit.”
While on the other hand, Arsene Wenger must be hugely disappointed with such a performance from his team. He later said,
“The game should have been finished at half-time for me. We missed opportunities on the counterattacks that are not missable at our level with the final ball.”
Tottenham next match at Wembley comes on 3rd March against relegation threatened side Huddersfield Town in the Premier League Gameweek 29 and would be looking to earn all three points against the Terriers.