da cassino： Tottenham Hotspur earned a respectable 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
da heads bet： It was a good result against a side that were unbeaten in their last 16 games in all competitions and had won seven of their previous eight games in the Premier League.
On paper, it was a good result for Spurs – the draw could be a valuable point come the end of the season and maintains their unbeaten start in the league. But it does mean Pochettino’s side fell further behind in the title race after drawing their sixth game out of 11.
And although Spurs fans are incredibly fond of their Argentine manager, who is yet to lose a north London derby in the Premier League, he must accept some blame for the Lilywhites failing to claim all three points on Sunday.
Here’s a look at three mistakes Pochettino made during the north London derby.
ON THE BACK FOOT FROM THE OFF
Tottenham’s best performance so far this season was undoubtedly their 2-0 win over Manchester City.
Pochettino’s side were relentless in pressuring City and didn’t allow them any time on the ball, meaning a side which had been free-scoring until that point failed to get into their rhythm.
Spurs fans would have been hoping for more of the same against their rivals but their side instead sat back and were lucky to go in only one goal behind at half-time as Arsenal ran riot.
WING-BACKS LEFT TOO EXPOSED
Pochettino made a bold call to play three at the back for the first time in such an important fixture and it arguably worked.
The only problem was that it meant all of Spurs’ width came from Kyle Walker and Danny Rose bombing forward. While the two are great in attack, it was almost suicide playing them so high up against Arsenal’s pacy wingers.
Particularly in the first half, Theo Walcott got in behind several times before hittng the woodwork. While a three-man defence clearly gives Poch a plan B, he would be wise to use it when facing less danger on the wing.
BRINGING ON JANSSEN
After sitting out for six weeks and only playing after passing a late fitness test, Harry Kane was never going to last the full 90 minutes.
The 23-year-old enjoyed a good return, holding up the ball nicely and calmly slotting a penalty home to equalise.
Tottenham were in the ascendancy before he was subbed in the 73rd minute but lost their edge when the Vincent Janssen replaced him.
The Dutchman didn’t add a lot to their attacking play and failed to really test Petr Cech with his two shots. Perhaps if Poch had brought on rapid winger Kevin N’Koudou in the striker role, things may have been different.
[ad_pod id=’playwire’ align=’center’]