Arsenal lost yesterday’s North London Derby to Tottenham yesterday, but on harsh terms. Spurs took a 2-0 home win on Sunday to end all hopes of a 22nd consecutive St Totteringham’s Day celebration, thanks to goals from Dele Alli and Harry Kane.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes things could have gone differently had his side not been killed off by the penalty, in which he believes Harry Kane dived to earn.
Asked whether he thought Kane had dived, Wenger said: “Yes. We conceded straight away a soft penalty and the 2-0 was a shock.
“You could see we were affected by that and Spurs looked more dangerous than before.
“We did lose the game in a very quick space of time, and after that it took us time to recover.”
The loss now means that Arsenal can no longer finish above their noisy neighbours for the first time in forever, and Spùrs fans celebrated such a fact.
The win also keeps Tottenham’s Premier League title hopes alive, with them keeping within four points of leaders Chelsea, with four matches left to play.
Luckily for us, both Manchester United and Manchester City could only muster draws against relegation-threatened Swansea City and Middlesbrough, meaning we didn’t lose much ground in our bid to reach the top four, and with United set to take us on next weekend, shortly after their crucial Europa League semi-final first-leg, and then the following week they have to face the Spuds after the second leg.
It’s weird to want Spurs to win a game, but our need for a top-four finish is our new objective, and them beating United will give us a boost. We will still have to rely on Liverpoòl and City to drop more points, but that is not unlikely given most of our rivals’ form of late.
Could we have gotten back into the game without the dive penalty shout? Can we still reach the top four?
Pat J
Pointless article really, Spurs were unlucky not to have had a few more. On the day they were the better team. Yes, Kane was tripped in the box the replays clearly showed it. but the outcome would have been the same if he wasn’t.
‘Dive’ or ‘no dive’, Spurs dominated the game, had the better chances, they missed two open goals in the first half, and if it wasn’t for Cech, it could have been five or six! The penalty had zero outcome on the game, because we were offering nothing in attack, and looking very shaky at the back. Very easy win for Spurs, and much deserved!
With Liverpool winning tonight, and Wenger’s horrendous record against Mourinho, whom he faces next, the top four is looking very unlikely, but then again…who cares! Clearly Arsenal cannot cope with the extra games, and travelling, because of all the injuries we keep getting, and Wenger saying how his team were struggling physically as early as November this season. Arsenal’s reputation has been taking such a battering every year in Europe, that the club has now become a laughing stock. The extra revenue isn’t any use either, because it just helps maintain our huge wage bill, for a squad packed with bang average players.
Finally, a top four finish only secures Wenger for another two years, most probably at least four. Why would any self-respecting Arsenal fan want that?
What dive? Gabriel kicked him in the shin as Kane went past him like he wasn’t there (again). Don’t confuse it with Rachford and Sane! Not one of the many tv pundits, including the ludicrous Alan Smith called it as a dive. However, there seems to be less comment about Sanchez elbowing the ball away with his arms raised then claiming it hit his chest. Mind you, Sanchez was the only Arsenal player to actually show up.
Recalled ashley young dived for 3 straight games and won 3 penalties
Utd won 3 games in a row by 1 nil (9pts) and Fergie won the title that season
Not only our players are soft and weak….they are not crafty enough
Only one word…..Pires!
ok, but don’t you have to score to win? they had at least one ligitamate goal, they are 17 pts ahead of us, they are better, giroud does not belong on the same pitch as kane, he has been a 5 yr joke, we always talk about getting a world class center forward, we never do, gabriel is a disaster in the box, lets face it, we are a 6th place team…
Am I the only gooner here who didn’t think he dived? Gabriel was stupid enough to kick his leg as he was running away from goal and he felt the contact and tripped. Stonewall pen for me and I believe anyone who thinks it was a dive needs to rewatch the replays.
We were outclassed from pretty much the first minute to the last. I was almost celebrating the final whistle as it didn’t get any worse.
That twat Redknapp said there’s a gulf in class between us right now and he’s right.
I’m sick of Ozil doing nothing game after game and hope he goes in the summer. Bring in players who WANT to play for us rather than big name players who don’t.
The thing I hate the most is I can’t see it changing and the Spuds getting further and further away from us.
Maybe we called this on with the piss taking over the years and I’ve been saying it for the last 18 months or so. I’m worried about Tottenham. I honestly think with Pochetino there they’re potentially the best team in the league and will only strengthen. If they figure out Wembley then they’ll win the title next season. Just glad the chavs have that 4 point lead or I’d have to consider throwing myself off of a very high building!
Spurs are of superior quality to us.
We really had little chance
And the scary thing going into the FA Cup final is that Chelsea beat Spurs 4-2
Spurs are solid from Goalkeeper to defense to central midfield to up front
We are a mess.
And our manager is clueless
That is why we are 6th place
I don’t think so Kane dived for penalty because if you see a replay carefully there was leg across from Gabriel and there was certainly a contact…. And once you put leg across to striker in the box then certainly he will claim a penalty…. Talking about Spurs and Arsenal Power then it rubbish to say that power has been shift in just 1 year… Last season also we finished season above Spurs…. This season Spurs will end there season trophy less and Arsenal still have the chance to show a trophy at Emirates…. And we have to wait couple of years to see whether is it really a power shift or not…. We should not forget about there new stadium from next season so there might be a possibility that they will be having financial constraints over next few years.. We just have to wait and see what happens…
WATT THE HELL IS GOING ON,,,, WHY DONT THE BOARD INSIST ON WENGER MAKING A DECISION ON HIS FUTURE,,, OR EVEN MAKE THE DECISION FOR HIM,,,,,
THIS HAS GONE ON LONG ENOUGH,,,, CHARLIE NICHOLAS IS 100 % RIGHT IN HIS COMMENTS
THIS HAS BEEN COMING,,,YEAR AFTER YEAR ,,ITS THE SAME SITUATION ,, AND WHEN WE DO
GET IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE,,, SAME OLD STORY…..
IM SORI TO SAY,,,, BUT MR WENGER NEEDS TO STEP DOWN,, HE MUST SEE THAT,,
Why are bloggers and the like writing rubbish such as this? Kane did not dive at all, it was a deliberate fowl from the Arsenal player. What Kane did do, whether cynically or not, is embellish what was already going to be a penalty.
But the worst thing about this kind of writing, is to try and justify a lack lustre performance and the loss, on that penalty. Spurs were by far and I mean by far the superior team throughout the whole game and regardless of what Wenger says, Arsenal were never in the game and had no chance of winning it.
The truth is, Arsenal are in a very bad situation, they are miles behind the likes of Spurs and Chelsea, even the two Manchester clubs are ahead of them. Spurs and Chelsea have created a gap between themselves and everyone else and I don’t just mean in terms of their position in the table, their style of football is the future.
This is not going to be a short term thing, Spurs will continue to improve and Arsenal will still be faffing around deciding whether to keep Wenger or not. Much to the smug amusement of the Spurs fans, this is going to hurt the Arsenal faithful, no amount of posturing about the recent history or the past 21 years is going to make one bit of difference. Spurs are better and it’s going to stay that way for some time to come, get used to it Gooners because your club is a laughing stock at the moment.
The break down of twenty two years domination was symbolized the fall of Arsene’s regime. Lost the UCL place, lost the beautiful football, what can be said? FA Cup trophy could be the consolation but I don’t think it can level up our lads motivation for next year. The biggest loss of Arsene’s football beside his tactical awareness is his ability to motivate the team. I think for the shake of our goods, both side need change. Mauricio Pocchetino, the new “London Derby Master”, have major overhauled Spuds squads in two years. At year three, look at them now. Compare it with our recent composition, I think we need overhaul under new manager. Lets start it from the scratch.
That is a penalty any day of the year!!
Yes we can finish 4th and we can win the FA cup (even Palace beat Chelsea). But will we finish 4th? No. Will we win the FA cup? No?
I think your article should have had a different title “Did Ali and Erikson’s open goal misses flatter Arsenal’s 2-0 loss to Spurs” the answer would be yes. That was really a 4-0 loss type of game.
Agree but more lie 6-0
Like not lie! Sorry