This IS the Tie Your Looking For Spurs 1 Gunners 1 in North London Derby

After playing 28 matches this season without a draw result in the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur tie Arsenal 1-1 maintaining a four-point gap for Spurs on their north London rivals in the race for the top four.

In a match both teams desperately needed to win, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal Gunners played to a wide-open open draw, that had some controversy and some huge moments from both keepers. Ultimately, it was big saves from Bernd Leno – in the first-half – and Hugo Lloris – in the both halves along with big calls from Anthony Taylor that won the day in the 1-1 draw for Spurs and Gunners.

The Keepers

Although, they technically only had four saves combined and both gave up a goal, Bernd Leno and Hugo Lloris were huge on the day for their respective clubs. Of course, both goalies will go home thinking of the ones that got by, but not nearly as critically as the attacking players whose opportunities they spoiled.

Leno’s big moment came well after Arsenal had taken the lead thanks to Aaron Ramsey. Harry Kane had picked up the ball near the corner of the penalty area and had the space to turn and face. His chip over the Gunner defense was just right to hit the oncoming foot of Christian Eriksen running in from midfield.

Eriksen struck the ball well, but Leno held his ground and made a huge save. The ball came bouncing out to Moussa Sissoko who struck the ball well and on-frame with his side foot off the bounce. Unfortunately for Spurs, Leno was already up and well positioned to get an arm out and knock the ball over, disaster averted for Arsenal, opportunity lost for Spurs.

In addition to that big moment, Leno did well to absorb a cleat to the chest from Danny Rose on a contested ball in the box. Without these three professional keeping moments, Arsenal go down. Likewise, Hugo Lloris was big for Spurs.

In the first-half Alex Iwobi had beaten Kieran Trippier to the inside in the box and was aiming to bend the ball into the far post. Instead Lloris, had a strong hand to deny the Nigerian the opportunity. While Arsenal had some other chances, including three second half corners, they were struggling to put the ball on frame.

Of course, putting the ball on frame from the penalty spot is much easier and that was the challenge for Hugo Lloris on this day. After a call against Davison Sanchez in the box, more on that later, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had his chance to swipe all three points.

For the second time this season, Lloris stood his ground, didn’t guess and put the pressure back on the spot taker. This was enough as Aubameyang looked like he was hoping Lloris would go early and he could just poke it the other way. Instead as Lloris held his ground, each step looked less sure and ultimately Auba struck a ball that Lloris was able to get down and block.

Help was still needed as the rebound was well saved by Jan Vertonghen, but Lloris had done his job making the crucial save at the 90th minute of the North London Derby, it doesn’t get bigger than that in London. Both keepers made huge plays and can fully stake claim for their share of the point the teams split.

Anthony Taylor and Controversary

It would not be a North London Derby without some level of controversy, much of it Anthony Taylor’s own doing. In a big match, referees can play things two ways, pull out the yellow early to establish authority and tone in the match or hold your hand as long as possible, until forced to throw out a card, which usually then results in the dam breaking and cards galore.

On this day, Taylor choose the later of two approaches, not brandishing a card of any kind until the second-half, but then handing out six in the second.  This approach tends to lead to an open first-half of football, but then a tense second as each foul is then protested by fans and players for a card.

Taylor had chances early, as he held his hand after plays by Socrates from behind on Kane, a pullback by Xhaka, and a strong Mustafi challenge, all in the first 25 minutes of the match. On 13 minutes with the game still 0-0, Socrates challenged Harry Kane from behind and cleated his calf. In this instance Taylor decided not to blow his whistle at all and three minutes later the game was 0-1 Arsenal.

On the 23rd minute Tottenham had started a break with Danny Rose only to be pulled back by the arm by Granit Xhaka. This time Taylor blew the whistle, but again did not produce a card. For comparison Henrikh Mkhitaryan got a yellow in the second for the exact same play on Harry Kane.

Then at the 25th minute Shkodran Mustafi committed the first of three harsh fouls. This one also on Danny Rose. Mustafi was exposed later when he pushed Kane from behind in the second to receive both a yellow card and concede the game tying penalty. Three chances to make a statement for Taylor and three calls missed.

Yet both Erik Lamela and Fernando Llorente are booked within minutes of entering the pitch in the second for playing to the level refed in the first-half. On a yellow card, both of those players are essentially nullified as they rely so much on guile and physical play. That said, Arsenal half-time sub Lucas Torreira deserved the straight red he got for an accidental stud to the shin challenge on Danny Rose.

Add in a tissue soft penalty for Arsenal in the 90th minute, called from behind from about 40 yards away was the which was the icing on the cake for the day. In this instance the ball didn’t lie and Lloris made the big save to rescue the point for Spurs. For the second time in three games Mauricio Pochettino has some cause to be a bit hot with the officials.

Spurs or Gunners? Whose happier with the Draw?

Neither team is really happy with the draw, although it was probably a more significant loss of 2 points for Arsenal than Spurs. The split means no ground changes between the teams, Spurs maintain a four-point edge on at the time fourth-placed Arsenal. However, the rest of the table still needed to play after the early afternoon or morning match – depending on where you watched from – and that will impact both teams in different ways.

For Spurs, regardless of what the other 18 teams do, they will maintain third place. Yes, the table below can shrink the gap, while the two league leaders can widen it, but no matter what Spurs are still going to be in third, at minimum three points up on Manchester United.

Then there is United, who with a win today will leap frog Arsenal into the fourth and final spot in Champions League. With the opportunity to lose their newly found hold on a top four spot a very realistic possibility as United host relegation battling Southampton.

Other takeaways

Heung-Min Son has been a shadow of the player who was dominating when Harry Kane was out. The problem seems to be with Son and Kane too often taking up the same positions on the pitch as they try to use movement to make things happen. This has led to a clogging of the space and fewer opportunities for the previously on first South Korean.

With Kane back and seemingly able to move, Son needs to play from wide, so there is more space for everyone. Sure, Son has been great at striker, but the Tottenham set-up truly only has room for one most of the time and having Son out wide is the next best option for Spurs.

Moussa Sissoko had one heck of a game today. With Harry Winks and Eric Dier out and Mousa Dembele in China, Mauricio Pochettino was kind of forced to start Victor Wanyama today. Two-years ago, this would not have been a surprise to many, but given his injuries over the last two years, Wanyama has drifted to the fringes of the squad and was only starting for the second time in league this season.

While Wanyama didn’t do anything particularly bad today, I can’t really think of anything he did particularly good, beyond being there to help clog the space in front of the defense. When he went off for Erik Lamela near the hour it did leave a big hole in the middle. However, that hole was more of a tactical space based on the set-up than it reflected anything Wanyama did on the day.

In defense of Wanyama, it is tough to come into this level of contest with as much rust as he had to knock off. Setting up the squad for Sissoko to be supported as the lone holding midfielder or deploying Oliver Skipp would have been the better option given the lack of effectiveness Wanyama displayed. But maybe he comes back and makes a difference down the stretch, in which case these minutes are important.

Danny Rose was all over the pitch today, including playing as the second holding midfielder to help fill the space vacated when Wanyama went off. On the one hand, Rose did some nice things from here, playing aggressively and attacking on the dribble with the ball. On the other, Danny also played a few bad passes and lost possession on the dribble, putting his mates under pressure and breaking down any attacking opportunity. It looked like Rose was trying to capture his inner Dembele, but his touch just wasn’t quite there. It was a lot to ask and really speaks to the lack of depth Spurs currently have in the engine room.

Back to Sissoko he played some great defense, had a good shot on goal well saved, and was the main connection between defense and attack on the day. While playmaking and distribution is not Sissoko’s strength 18 of his 40 passes (45%) were forward on the day. Add in two crosses and Sissoko had the lunch-pail, do a bit of everything day fans have come to expect.

Harry Kane, what can you say about this guy? He was roughed up a bit on the day but seemed to give as good as he got at times. I only saw the first-half goal that was called back once, but his header off the Trippier free kick was a thing of beauty. That was a tight line, not sure what the truth was there.

Speaking of tight lines, there was another on the play leading to the penalty. Regardless, the foul was clear and then the pressure was on. Down 0-1, only about 15 minutes left, and Kane calmly sends Leno the wrong way and buries the ball in the lower right corner. Talk about cool. That is about it, all you can say, when the pressure is on, this man is cool and comes through. It may not always look beautiful – ask his World Cup Golden Boot – but Harry Kane keeps pushing and is the kind of gamer that comes through in the clutch.

What’s Next?

Tottenham travel to Germany too face Borussia Dortmund in the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16. Then play Saturday on the coast as Spurs travel to Southampton. Arsenal have a European adventure of their own, as they travel to France to play at Rennes in leg one of the Europa League Round of Sixteen. This before they host Manchester United, in the next biggest game of the season for the Gunners.