Antonio’s blankers hand
ANTONIO CONTE’S toothless Tottenham slipped up again to make it advantage Arsenal in the scrap for fourth spot.
For the second time in a week the North Londoners failed to register a shot on target as they slumped to a goalless stalemate in the Christian Eriksen classico at Brentford.
All of which leaves them trailing the Gunners by two points with five games left in their increasingly-fraught bid for Champions League qualification.
It would have been even worse had Eriksen not been denied by Hugo Lloris’ smart save.
The greeting from all sides of the ground for football’s miracle man, along with hugs from his old Spurs pals, said everything about his popularity. The Dane is clearly loved everywhere and his second wind on the pitch – following that near-fatal cardiac arrest in the Euros – had yielded a fabulous five wins from five Brentford starts before this clash.
Brentford, safe and secure thanks to their recent red-hot run, were expected to provide a tough examination of Spurs’ mettle. So it proved.
A visit to the Community Stadium when the hosts are in such bullish frame of mind is not for the anxious or faint-hearted, even if their manager refers to his minnows as “a bus stop in Hounslow”.
Arsenal discovered that on the opening night of the campaign. Yesterday it was the turn of their bitterest enemy Tottenham.
Apart from the two title-chasers at the summit, nobody had been in better form over the past five weeks than Brentford and Spurs, with five and four wins respectively.
But the visitors had undone much of their good progress by crashing at home to Brighton last weekend.
They got away with that, as Arsenal also lost, but knew there could be no repeat if they were to retain control of their destiny.
The Gunners’ win over Manchester United in the lunchtime kick-off meant it was