Tottenham news as former Arsenal star Paul Merson admitted he was wrong to think Ange Postecoglou’s side would be ‘ripped to shreds’ by the Gunners last weekend
Former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson has admitted that he was wrong about Tottenham after he thought they’d get ‘ripped to shreds’ in the North London Derby last weekend.
Ange Postecoglou’s side went a goal down thanks to Bukayo Saka’s curling effort taking a big deflection off the knee of Christian Romero, sending Guglielmo Vicario the wrong way early on. Gabriel Jesus would have a chance to make it 2-0 after he caught James Maddison unaware on the edge of Spurs’ 18-yard box but skied the effort.
Captain Son Heung-min stepped up to level the score when Maddison broke down the byline and cut it back for the South Korean international who side-footed a response home just before halftime. It was more pain for Romero though, as the ball was deemed to have struck his hand in an unnatural position, leaving Saka to step up and rifle one home to retake the lead for Arsenal.
But just 22 seconds later, Maddison and Son again combined for an equaliser, this time Jorginho falling victim to a poor touch and handing the ball over to the England international who slotted Son through for 2-2. While the game finished with the points shared, Postecoglou was delighted with his side and highlighted their determination to not go down quietly.
“I’m really pleased. They’re a top side, it’s a tough place to come, not much went our way today,” the manager said. “We conceded an unlucky own goal, then a VAR penalty, so it’s not like everything was falling in our favour as well.
“Just a real character and resilience the boys showed, a real belief in the kind of team we want to be, even though there was times today when it was difficult to do that. They just kept persevering and persevering and that’s a credit to them.”
But just 22 seconds later, Maddison and Son again combined for an equaliser, this time Jorginho falling victim to a poor touch and handing the ball over to the England international who slotted Son through for 2-2. While the game finished with the points shared, Postecoglou was delighted with his side and highlighted their determination to not go down quietly.
“I’m really pleased. They’re a top side, it’s a tough place to come, not much went our way today,” the manager said. “We conceded an unlucky own goal, then a VAR penalty, so it’s not like everything was falling in our favour as well.
“Just a real character and resilience the boys showed, a real belief in the kind of team we want to be, even though there was times today when it was difficult to do that. They just kept persevering and persevering and that’s a credit to them
While many see the derby as a huge clash between two undefeated opponents, Merson is not among them, claiming the Gunners will “slaughter” Spurs. Last weekend he said:
“I’m optimistic, very optimistic. I really don’t see anything other than an Arsenal win. I think they’re going to absolutely slaughter them. I think they’re going to absolutely tear them to pieces.”
However, the match clearly did not go as Merson thought, as Maddison and Son ensured that Mikel Arteta’s side did not get all three points. Merson has now apologized and said he underestimated Postecoglou’s people.
“No, no, I’m very optimistic about Arsenal,” Merson admitted on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday. “I think Tottenham will be very interested and play Arsenal like they have done in matches this season. In the first 30 minutes, I thought it looked a bit like a [Jose] Mourinho or [Antonio] L’ Conte team, they sat back, couldn’t help but keep the ball, played defensively.
“Arsenal scored a fortunate own goal and then have a chance with [Gabriel] Jesus to go 2-0, if that goes it, they’ll go onto win the game so, so easily it would’ve been ridiculous. But they don’t, and fair play to Tottenham, I’ll hold my hands up.
“I thought Tottenham were very, very good. They didn’t panic, got into the game and as the game went on, I was half-sitting there thinking that they could’ve nicked it at the end.
“I thought they had more composure on the ball than Arsenal did when they had it, so fair play to Spurs, I’ll hold my hands up. Did I get it wrong? Of course, everyone gets things wrong all the time!”
