Mauricio Pochettino was pleased by Tottenham Hotspur‘s draw with Arsenal in the North London derby, despite the Gunners playing most of the second half with ten men.
Arsenal took a surprise lead in the first half through Aaron Ramsey, but shortly after the break Francis Coquelin was shown a second yellow card.
Spurs were quick to capitalise, with Toby Alderweireld scoring from close range five minutes later before Harry Kane curled in less than two minutes after.
However, Arsene Wenger’s side managed to salvage a point through Alexis Sanchez with just 14 minutes to go. Despite only coming away with a point, Pochettino insists maintaining the gap between their local rivals and themselves is the most important thing.
Pochettino told BT Sport: “I am pleased. It’s true, when it was 2-1, I am little bit disappointed with the result, but we
have to happy we keep the three-point gap to Arsenal.
“After Harry’s goal it was 11 versus 10, and they scored a very good goal but it was our mistake. Overall, the response
after the West Ham game was fantastic.
“In our position, two points from the top, we have nine games ahead and we need to be focussed on Thursday against Borussia Dortmund, they are a very tough side too and we cannot stop.”
Before the game many were predicting Spurs to finally end the Gunners’ hopes of a title, particularly with Petr Cech and Laurent Koscielny missing at the back.
However, stand-in keeper David Ospina put in a good performance between the sticks, making a number of impressive saves.
Coquelin’s sending off changed the momentum at White Hart Lane though, and once Spurs took the lead it seemed as though
they would go on to extend the points gap between the two sides to six points.
Pochettino’s side had 26 shots compared to Arsenal’s 10, and created 18 chances during the game. Arsenal could not
establish their usual free-flowing football and Mesut Ozil was kept quiet for most of the afternoon, restricting the away side to just seven chances created.
Arsenal’s defence held strong though barring the two-minute spell after the sending off, winning 62% of their aerial duels, while Spurs only managed to win 32% of theirs.
COMMENTS