Of course it would have been the target for Arsenal to come back from White Hart Lane with all three points and after a great start and taking the lead against Tottenham in the north London derby then there are bound to be some regrets, especially from the defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin who admitted that his rash tackle on Kane probably cost us the win.
And the failure to win was then punished to the full by Leicester City who managed another narrow victory and opened up an eight point gap on the Gunners. But despite that, Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal players seem to have gained some belief back that we can defy the odds, finish the season strongly and catch Claudio Ranieri and the Foxes.
After the derby our opening goal scorer Aaron Ramsey was proud of the spirit that Arsenal showed and if suggest in comments on the Arsenal website that if we can carry on from that and if he and our other scorer Alexis Sanchez can keep finding the net then anything can happen in the coming weeks and months.
The Welshman said, “I think we needed a performance like that after the couple of defeats that we’ve had. We needed to come here and get something and we managed to do that with 10 men.
“Of course, it is always difficult, especially against a top team like them, but we did show great character to come back from 2-1 down.
“Hopefully him [Alexis] and myself can chip in with a few more goals towards the end of the season and finish off strongly. We’ll keep giving everything until the final game of the season is over.
“I think we needed a result here today. We would have liked to have won the game but it was important just to get a result. We’ve had two defeats, so we’re happy to come away with a point in the end, considering the circumstances.”
I know that a lot of Arsenal fans feel that a draw was not enough and that the players should not be happy with it, but if it has restored their confidence and belief after a bad run then that could be massive. The attitude of the players has been under question recently and that was alluded to by the on pitch captain Per Mertesacker, as Metro reports.
The German said, “For a team with low confidence and no belief we played pretty well!
“I think we have shown great character and hopefully that gives us a lot of confidence and a lot of belief. I think we’ve shown a lot.
‘With 11 men, we played really well. I think we defended well. It was a high tempo. The first 15 minutes were absolutely amazing. I have never played in such a demanding game physically.
“Mentally, it’s always tough because you could feel the pressure but the team responded well and I think it’s a good start to an interesting end of the season.”
And Arsene Wenger was bullish today in the press conference ahead of the FA cup replay at Hull, reported by The Mirror, refusing to accept that there is too much to do and insisting that the Gunners will do all they can to win the title.
The boss said, “You don’t think like that. The Premier League is far from being over. Just to remind you, we have beaten Leicester twice so we have done our job against them.
“People have to look at other teams more, not just us on that front. We will not give up the Premier League, we will fight until the end.”
So if the battling draw against the spuds really has given Arsenal their belief back, will it prove to be a vital point in the EPL title race?