Both Gary Neville and Jamie Redknapp were in agreement on Sky Sports’ live coverage of Tottenham’s win against Arsenal that Kieran Tierney was causing the home team ‘a couple of problems’.
In the second half, as Arsenal were trying to mount a fightback, they were firing in as many crosses into Tottenham’s box as possible and it forced Jose Mourinho to make a tactical change.
The Spurs boss brought on defender Ben Davies for midfielder Giovani Lo Celso to try and stop the threat from the flanks.
This was highlighted by Redknapp and Neville, who praised Tierney for the ‘joy’ he was getting out wide and how Mourinho tried to nullify it.
“They have had a couple of problems down this left-hand side with Tierney getting crosses into the box,” said Redknapp.
Neville added: “Ben Davies has gone into left centre-back. There’s that back three. Aurier to the right. Reguilon to the left and Dier in the middle of Alderweireld and Ben Davies. Then there’s the two in front [Sissoko and Hojbjerg]. They won’t move.
“This just means that the Spurs fullbacks can get tighter on that side because they were getting a little joy on the left and right side with Tierney, as you said, Jamie. And now Aurier can be a lot more aggressive.”
In the end, the pressure Arsenal put on Spurs in the second half didn’t result in a goal and it showcased the strong defence Mourinho has built.
If Spurs are to do the unthinkable and win the Premier League title then they need to add to their clean sheets tally throughout the campaign.
The goals will always be there with Spurs because of who they have in their starting XI – Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son – and who they can bring off from the bench – Gareth Bale.
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