Dejan Kulusevski admits Tottenham Hotspur couldn’t cope with the poise and confidence of Arsenal during Sunday’s 2-0 North London derby defeat to Mikel Arteta’s Premier League leaders, speaking to the Spurs website.
It is only eight months since Antonio Conte’s rampant frontline tore through the Gunners defence like wet tissue paper at a raucous night at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium; snatching Champions League qualification from under Arteta’s nose.
How times have changed.
It was men against boys as Arsenal moved eight points clear on Sunday afternoon. A coherent, confident, free-flowing side sauntering through a Spurs outfit which was anything but. In fact, As Martin Odegaard drilled a wonderful long-range shot into the bottom corner with just over half an hour gone, many a Tottenham supporter would probably have bit your arm off at the joint if you’d offered them a 2-0 scoreline at full-time.
Arsenal cruise to North London derby win away at Tottenham Hotspur
“Bad first-half. I thought we started well for the first ten minutes. But when they scored (Hugo Lloris spilling a Bukayo Saka cross into his own net after 14 minutes), we couldn’t get to them,” sighs Kulusevski; arguably Spurs’ most threatening player on his first Premier League outing of 2023.
“They were very confident. They had the ball, so we couldn’t press them, and they created a lot of opportunities. A bad first half.”
Tottenham, typically, were much-improved after the interval. Though that’s not saying much. From an F to a D-minus, if you like.
“Second half was much better but we couldn’t score. So, a tough day,” adds Kulusevski, highlighting a number of impressive stops from visiting goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.
“It’s tough being 2-0 down. You know Arsenal can counter-attack, so you can’t go all-in. But we just kept our head in the game. The coach changed something, we went man-to-man and we did better. We won our duels. This season, we play better in the second-half. It’s hard to explain. We have to do it 90 minutes.
“Their goalkeeper (Ramsdale) made good saves. But, as you say, if you don’t score, you don’t win.”
There are now four places and 14 points between Arsenal and Spurs in the Premier League table. A gap, nay a gulf, nay a chasm that was visible for all to see as the men in red claimed their first victory in this part of the city since Tomas Rosicky’s rocket in 2014.
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