RILED ARSENAL SILENCE SPURS
Wenger’s side use hype over rivals to quieten the noise as Ozil and Sanchez shine
IF Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil had tired somewhat of the constant hailing of their north London rivals then this was the perfect response.
Since the heights of that 3-1 win over Real Madrid, Tottenham have been lauded not just as London’s coming team but Europe’s new darlings. Their rise has brought Arsenal’s apparant stagnation into sharper focus, with one team so clearly progressing under a young manager while another club seems stuck under a man on the brink of retirement.
And yesterday it seemed a fortnight of hearing how Tottenham have overshadowed them had riled these Arsenal players and stirred them into life — because this was Arsenal at their best.
This was the kind of performance that won them so many plaudits against Chelsea in the FA Cup final last May.
Ozil and Alexis Sanchez were clearly up for a north London derby and Wenger also had Alexandre Lacazette in sparkling form, Granit Xhaka returning to what he should be and Aaron Ramsey dominating a midfield. At the end, when necessary, he had Petr Cech leaping across goal to keep out an Eric Dier header and there was Shkodran Mustafi with a vital block on Harry Kane in the second half as well.
So had the hype over Spurs given them extra motivation? Wenger denied it. But within minutes of the final whistle, Hector Bellerin had posted a picture with his finger on his lips — which looked like he was telling Spurs to quieten down.
‘I believe we do not listen too much — as much as you think — to the national debate,’ said Wenger. ‘That is among you. We live inside our own club and focus on what is important for us. People have a perception of us and the game and we have to live with that. We can only give one answer and that is on the pitch.’
The caveat was that Arsenal’s first goal was offside. Even Mustafi said he was lucky to open the scoring, though Wenger was having none of it. The decisions were only marginal, he said, whereas, when Arsenal had lost to Manchester City two weeks ago and been declared in crisis, the offside decision which had gone against Wenger’s side then was a much clearer violation.
‘We conceded a goal that was not marginally offside it was a yard offside but no one found a word to say,’ he said.
‘Now when it is marginal — and I watched it again and it’s not certain it’s offside — it’s absolutely normal you have to answer that in a press conference. If you analyse it [the City game] with our model, the game was a draw and the referee influenced the decision.’
Where Wenger was on stronger ground was on whether the free-kick which led to the first goal should have been awarded. It is true that Davinson Sanchez won the ball but that was only after he had given Alexis Sanchez a solid push and then tackled through him to win it.
Ozil’s free-kick was then delivered divinely on to the head of Mustafi, though he had indeed strayed just offside, prior to cutting back in to rise magnificently. That said, it was one of those headers whose trajectory was seemingly computer controlled, so precise was its target, looping over everyone before striking the inside of the post and in, leaving Hugo Lloris helpless.
But just as City were worthy winners against Arsenal, despite the dubious decision, so Arsenal were well worth their victory here, however the goals were achieved. They repeatedly found space behind the Tottenham back three and had come within a whisker of opening the scoring shortly before the opening goal, when Bellerin’s cross was but a millimetre away from connecting with Lacazette.
The second goal came in the 43rd minute and the flighted pass from Bellerin was delightful. Lacazette looked marginally offside when he rushed to collect it, though TV replays suggested it was only his arm, which does not count. From thereon in, Arsenal exploited their break well.
The Frenchman played in Sanchez and though the Chilean looked to have made an initial mis-control, from a tight angle he managed to lift the ball over Lloris and score from close range.
It is not that the usually scintillating Tottenham team offered nothing; Christian Eriksen shot just wide in the first half and Kane’s header was plucked out of the air by Cech. But Mauricio Pochettino was understandably aggrieved.
‘It is not blaming the referee,’ he said of the first goal. ‘It is a strange situation and it disappoints you, as it changed the dynamic of the game. But we need to accept that. That is not under our control.’
He also felt Xhaka’s repeated infractions might have warranted a red card rather than the one yellow he received.
But, in the final analysis, Tottenham had been knocked out of their usual confident stride and Pochettino has managed only one win away from home against the big six since he took over at Tottenham. ‘I don’t see that we struggle away,’ he said. ‘We are in the same situation as everyone. For Arsenal it was difficult to play Manchester City in their last game, for Manchester United it was difficult to play against Chelsea.’
Arsenal were not as dominant in the second half but they did not need to be. In the 76th minute, Lloris needed to save well from Alexis Sanchez, who might also have had a penalty when he stayed on his feet in injury time when clipped by Davidson Sanchez.
The Chilean wanted to finish the opportunity cleanly but, off balance, his shot was saved. After he had tried to chase the ball down, he punched the grass in frustration. Though the game was won, he wanted more.
And if Arsenal showed that character more often, no one would be talking about their relative decline.