SON: SPURS CAN’T LET JUVE DEFEAT RUIN THE SEASON
TROY DEENEY has got the green light to carry on speaking his mind – especially with Arsenal coming up on Sunday.
Watford’s talismanic captain upset the Gunners with his post-match comments about their lack of backbone after Deeney’s intervention from the bench inspired the Hornets’ 2-1 win at Vicarage Road last October.
Nearly all susbsequent events have arguably proved him right – Arsenal are now 33 points behind Premier League leaders Manchester City.
There will be a hint of revenge on the agenda when Deeney’s side visits the Emirates. But Hornets head coach Javi Gracia admits he likes his captain’s honesty – even if it rubbed Gunners fans up the wrong way.
Gracia said: “Troy is our captain and a very good player. Everyone is free to explain feelings and a point of view as he wants – I like this way.
“I don’t know what happened with him and the squad in the past and I don’t care. If you say something about what happened in the past, you are talking about different coaches – I prefer only to think about the future for Troy and all the players.”
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, who has lost at home to Watford in each of the last two seasons, felt a controversial penalty was the turning point of his side’s defeat at Vicarage Road five months ago.
But Deeney (above), who has scored three goals in his last four games, famously retorted: “I’m not one to tell Mr Wenger about himself, but there’s a reason they lost and it wasn’t one penalty.
“I have to watch what I say, but having a bit of cojones, I think the word is. A bit of nuts.” HEUNG-MIN SON admits it will be hard for Tottenham to save their season after crashing out of the Champions League.
Spurs still have the FA Cup and a place in the top four to chase but their European exit has shattered dressing-room confidence at a crucial stage of the season.
Forward Son admits Spurs will have to pick themselves up for Sunday’s trip to Bournemouth or lose ground in their battle for a Champions League spot next season.
The South Korea star said: “It’s going to be difficult to change the mentality after the Juventus game but the next game is on Sunday and we have to.
“We need to be ready mentally and physically.”
Son said that even in defeat there was a crumb of comfort for Spurs because they played well over two legs against the Italians.
“No one thought we’d go through from the group stage but we did and we played very well against Juventus.
“That is the main thing,” he said.
Juve’s former Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny, who said the Italians won because of their wealth of big-game experience, enjoyed taunting Spurs fans near the bench.
Szczesny (below) said: “We’ve got players who have won the World Cup.
“They have won six championships in a row and you see that makes a difference in the difficult situations. Where others crumble we manage to come out on top.
“We were in difficult situations throughout the two legs so it shows you the great character of the team. There were a couple of Tottenham fans next to our bench who went missing after the 80th minute so, yeah, I enjoyed it.” Eric Dier is a worry as he left Wembley with an arm in a sling, and could miss Sunday’s game.