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Wenger: Guns top COLLY
HUGO LLORIS has urged his faltering Tottenham team-mates to prove they belong at football’s top table.
The Spurs skipper, whose side are unbeaten in the Premier League but have not won a game in all competitions in their last six outings, was furious with his men after Wednesday’s Champions League horror show.
Bayer Leverkusen beat them 1-0 at Wembley and the north Londoners were a pale imitation of the side which for so long last season were major runners in the title race.
The midweek performance earned Tottenham’s players a stinging rebuke from keeper Lloris, who told them they can not pretend to be a big side in Europe then perform the way they did.
And he is desperately hoping it was the wake-up call they need ahead of today’s crunch game against bitter rivals Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
Mistakes
Lloris said: “You can win, you can lose in football, but the most important thing is to keep playing the right way.
“We need to be honest with each other and on Wednesday that was not the case.
“Maybe it was the case in the last few games in the Premier League and we were maybe a bit unfortunate in some games.
“But you can not pretend to be a challenger, you cannot pretend to be a big club in Europe, if you are not ready to compete.
“On Wednesday, my feeling was that the team was not ready to compete because, under pressure, we lost a bit of our strength, we didn’t create a lot, we made a lot of mistakes.
“We have a proper style to play football here and I didn’t recognise the team.
“I hope now that playing Arsenal will help us refocus, as stronger and stronger. We have a strong fan base, maybe the strongest in London. And as long as we do our job Arsenal will always be the stronger.”
Wenger believes that a new ground will guarantee nothing. “No position is guaranteed,” he said.
“It is about doing our job. But at the end of the day everything is decided by what happens on the pitch. That is what the size of a club is about – consistency at the top level. That is what size is about.”
However, Wenger made it clear that he has been impressed with the progress made by Spurs under Pochettino (right).
A club that used to change managers on an almost bi-annual basis clearly feel they have the man for the future in Pochettino. And the there will be a lot of expectation, a lot of motivation. A derby is always important for players, for the fans, for the club, so I hope we are going to bounce back and, at least, have a great performance.
“After that, it’s football. You win, you lose. But you can not leave the pitch with the feeling we had on Wednesday.”
A 2-0 win over title favourites Manchester City at the start of last month – without talisman Harry Kane – had Spurs fans dreaming of big things again this term. But since then they have drawn three Premier League games – against Argentinian has made Spurs title contenders.
That has given the clash between the two clubs more meaning. Does Wenger welcome that? “Yes, of course,” he said. “The better the two teams are, the better the derby will be.
“At the moment, both teams are doing well so that is why I think this one is more interesting.”
In his 20 years at Arsenal, West Brom, Bournemouth and Leicester – suffered a 2-1 defeat to Liverpool in the EFL Cup and have drawn with and been beaten by Germans Leverkusen.
They have struggled without Kane’s goals, but the striker could return at the Emirates.
Lloris (below) added: “Harry is very important for the team.
“Maybe he is going to give us a little boost, which is the thing we need at the moment.
“We have some important players in our team, like in every club, and when they miss some games sometimes it can affect the performance of the team.
Battle
“But we cannot hide ourselves behind those excuses. Now we just need to be ready for the battle against Arsenal.”
Much has been made of the fact that the Gunners pipped Spurs to second place last season – meaning they have failed to finish above Arsenal for over 20 years.
But Lloris said: “In football, you can not fight only against one club. I can understand the importance for the fans, but we are players and we just fight to put the club as high as possible.” Wenger has seen the contest generate several flashpoints as players struggle to keep their cool.
“It is important to keep that fine balance between motivation, attitude, composure and being relaxed. It is important that you keep your discipline, that you focus on football.
“Sometimes you can have games that are heated from the first to the last minute, sometimes you have just two or three moments in the game when it becomes absolutely heated.
“But you have to master the situation when it happens.”
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