India retain place in Group I
London, Feb. 10: Harry Kane tormented Arsenal again as the Tottenham striker’s clinical finish sealed a 1- 0 win in the north London derby at Wembley on Saturday.
Kane’s header early in the second half gave Tottenham the victory their enterprising display deserved as Mauricio Pochettino’s side climbed to third in the Premier League.
It was the Tottenham striker’s seventh goal in seven league games against the club who rejected him as a youngster.
Kane’s latest heroics also made it sweet revenge for Tottenham after they were beaten at Arsenal earlier this season.
In the first north London derby at Wembley for 25 years, Tottenham extended their recent mastery over Arsenal, who have won only once in the last eight league meetings with their hated neighbours.
Tottenham are unbeaten in their last nine league matches and remain in a good position to qualify for the Champions League via a top four finish.
In stark contrast, this was another dispiriting day for Arsenal in a season already marred by too many painful moments.
Arsenal’s first defeat in 10 visits to Wembley is a huge blow to their hopes of returning to the Champions League.
The Gunners, winless in 16 Premier away league games against the top five, fell seven points behind Tottenham and are six adrift of the top four.
From the start, it was clear Tottenham would be the aggressors in the latest meeting between these eternal rivals in front of a Premier League record crowd of 83,222.
Kane’s clever flick sent Dele Alli racing clear and when he whipped over a low cross, Shkodran Mustafi poked an attempted clearance towards his own goal, forcing Petr Cech to plunge to his right to spare his team mate’s blushes.
That incisive raid was part of a sustained spell of early pressure from Tottenham.
Adopting cautious
Arsenal were unusually approach, rendered Ankita Raina and Karman Kaur Thandi won their singles matches to help India retain their place in Fed Cup’s Asia/ Oceania Group I with a 2- 0 win over Chinese Taipei in the relegation play- off here on Saturday.
Karman beat Lee Pei- Chi 7- 6( 4), 6- 3 to put India ahead 1- 0. Ankita then overcame Chieh- Yu Hsu 6- 4, 5- 7, 6- 1 in two hour and 54 minutes to keep the hosts in the group. Japan qualified for the World Group play- off, beating Kazakhstan 2- 1.
Ankita remained unbeaten in her singles matches in the India leg of the tournament, winning all her four matches.
She hit a lot of angled balls to her left- handed opponents’ backhand, a impotent for long periods, leaving club record signing Pierre- Emerick Aubameyang chasing lost causes.
POTENT TOTTENHAM Kane wasted a golden opportunity to open the scoring midway through the first half when he headed over from Christian Eriksen’s pinpoint cross.
Hector Bellerin made a well- timed burst onto Mesut Ozil’s pass, but despite being in acres of spaces, the Arsenal defender couldn’t keep his longrange effort on target. It was a miscue in keeping with Arsenal’s failure to find their rhythm as new signings Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan struggled to replicate last weekend’s dazzling displays against Everton.
Pochettino’s team were doing all the pressing and were finally rewarded in the 49th minute.
When Ben Davies swung over a dangerous cross, Kane who reacted quickest, showing more desire than Laurent Koscielny as he towered above the Arsenal defender to guide a fine header past Cech.
Kane’s 32nd club goal of strategy that paid her good dividends. Ankita took some time to settle down, fending off four breakpoints in the opening game. She broke Hsu in the fourth and eighth games to take the first set.
The battle intensified in the second set.
Hsu broke Ankita in the fifth and then saved three breakpoints in the next game. Ankita broke back two times but lost serve in the 11th game, allowing the Taipei player to served out the set in the 12th.
Hsu took a medical timeout to treat her left shoulder immediately after drawing parity. It broke her momentum helping Ankita to win.
Earlier, Karman played much better compared to her previous matches, serving accurately on crucial points to win. the season — his eighth in his last seven games — shifted the momentum even further toward Tottenham and the England striker should have doubled his team’s lead when he stooped to head wide from Kieran Trippier’s cross.
Arsenal had no answer to Kane’s muscular presence and clever movement.