Gary Neville has admitted that he expected Tottenham Hotspur to be completely overwhelmed in the North London Derby and for Arsenal to emerge comfortably victorious.
Despite Spurs being level on points with their north London rivals and playing arguably better football in their first five matches of the season, most pundits are backing the Gunners to win comfortably on Sunday. Sunday (talkSPORT).
This is perhaps due to Tottenham’s poor performance at the Emirates Stadium, with many expecting Mikel Arteta’s side to once again be Manchester City’s closest rivals for the Premier League title.
However, Spurs not only got a deserved point from the match but they did so by refusing to give up their style of play.
Spurs exceeded Neville’s expectations
The Lilywhites also showed bravery as they twice fell behind in the match, each time fighting back quickly, with Neville admitting to being surprised by the steel of Ange Postecoglou’s men.
Expert said on Gary Neville Podcast after the 2-2 draw:
“To be honest with you today, before the match I thought Arsenal would win. I think Arsenal will win this match.
“I think they will win quite comfortably, I think the difference in quality will be huge and I think we will see the old Spurs again when the going gets really tough, we will see them dominate and we have not doing so.” didn’t do it.” it wasn’t done.
“So, I’m pleasantly surprised sat here tonight. I don’t re-write history, I didn’t say that before the game. But the reality is that’s how I felt.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I was fearing the worst before the game and felt that there was a chance that we would get ripped apart if we committed bodies forward.
It seemed like the game was heading that way in the first 30 minutes as our players looked quite nervous and were making some poor mistakes while building out from the back.
However, we were excellent once we grew into the encounter and controlled large parts of the second half.
