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Arsenal defy critics as Harry Kane rues Tottenham’s missed opportunity

This article is more than 8 years old

10-man Arsenal take point with Alexis Sánchez’s equaliser
Kane: ‘We should have finished game off’

Per Mertesacker wanted the comment to pack a punch and it did. “For a team with low confidence and no belief, we played pretty well today,” the Arsenal captain said, the deadpan delivery perfect.

It is difficult to imagine a more unsettling buildup to this high-profile collision for his club. Over and above the defeats to Manchester United and Swansea City last week, there had been outpourings of dismay from the most computer-literate fanbase in world football and the familiar sense of Arsène Wenger being pressed to the brink.

When Harry Kane summoned his latest Roy of the Rovers moment against Arsenal to put Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 up and spark wild celebrations at White Hart Lane, it was easy to fear the worst for the visitors. Tottenham were flying whereas Arsenal, already missing key players through injury, were down and reduced to 10 men following Francis Coquelin’s daft second booking on 54 minutes. Kane almost made it 3-1 only to drag a low shot past the far post.

But Arsenal found a response. The team with low confidence and no belief picked themselves up to conjure the equaliser through Alexis Sánchez. Were it not for Kevin Wimmer’s saving tackle on Aaron Ramsey in injury-time, they might have nicked a thrilling and wonderfully chaotic game. Wenger’s men had shown not only a vital burst of quality but guts, too.

Tottenham’s post-match rhetoric was downbeat, the body language likewise. “We deserved more,” Mauricio Pochettino said. Dele Alli talked of a feeling of disappointment and of having dropped points, while Kane said that they had to learn lessons. When you are chasing the Premier League title and are a goal up against 10 men with 15 minutes to go, the points have to be closed out.

“We should have gone on to get a third and a fourth to finish the game off,” Kane said. “We maybe dropped off a little bit too much and gave them space to play, and we got punished for it. We all know it was an opportunity missed. You have to learn and move on.”

Both of these clubs are past masters at offering tantalising glimpses. When Kane curled his cracker beyond David Ospina, Tottenham were heading to the top of the table in March for the first time since 1964. It lasted about 14 minutes. With Arsenal, meanwhile, there has long been the sense that they play their best stuff only when the major breakthrough is beyond them.

It did feel like a better point for Arsenal, under the circumstances, but when the shouting had stopped and the title picture was assessed, the result was not great for either club – and certainly not Wenger’s.

With the leaders, Leicester City, winning at Watford later on Saturday, Arsenal find themselves eight points off the pace, and with an inferior goal difference, with nine matches to play. They must still visit West Ham United and Manchester City. Even in this wacky season, their margin for error seems non-existent, and they know it.

“It’s not down to us any more, so we’re not in a position where we can really talk about it,” Mertesacker said of the title. “As long as we play like that, I’m confident. I have great belief in our group and nothing else.”

Alli made the point that Tottenham remained three clear of Arsenal, which was a good thing, but the team’s run-in also looks more testing than that of Leicester. Tottenham have to go to Liverpool, Stoke City and Chelsea.

“You could say that there is a different feel to the games now,” Alli said. “Everyone knows how many games you’ve got left and everyone knows what’s to play for. But it’s important that we don’t get carried away and don’t get too hyped up in it. We’ve just got to keep focusing on ourselves.”

Alli had a hand in Kane’s goal, nipping in front of Mertesacker to release his team-mate with a cheeky backheel, but this was not one of his better performances. The midfielder is carrying ankle and knee problems, according to Pochettino, and the Tottenham manager’s much-vaunted conditioning programme faces the acid test. For the record, Alli – who is suspended for Thursday night’s Europa League tie at Borussia Dortmund – said he did not feel his knocks during the game.

Arsenal, too, remain alive in other competitions – they face Hull City in an FA Cup fifth-round replay on Tuesday night while they have one more game in the Champions League against Barcelona – and it is impossible to ignore the fact that Leicester have only the league to play for. They have no more midweek fixtures.

Wenger started here with two defensive midfielders and he was very pleased with one of them – Mohamed Elneny, making his full debut in the league. But the less said about Coquelin, the better. He did not need to jump in on Kane but he did and when the striker was too quick for him, everybody knew what was coming next.

The dismissal was the prompt for Arsenal to wobble. They were vulnerable on set pieces and Mertesacker also switched off when he was robbed by Alli. Arsenal had earlier rued Danny Welbeck’s miss at 1-0, when his free header from Sánchez’s cross was weak. These are the kind of details that have frequently cost them.

“I don’t feel as sharp as I did before my operation,” said Welbeck, who is just back from a long-term knee problem. “It is going to take a while.”

Mertesacker said that he had “never played in such a demanding game, physically” and the intensity, particularly in the first 15 minutes, was extraordinary. The statistics showed that there had been 41 attempted tackles in the first half – the most in a Premier League fixture for six years – and 74 in all.

There was controversy, with Eric Dier extremely lucky to escape a second yellow card on 79 minutes for a pull on Olivier Giroud, the Arsenal substitute, while Héctor Bellerín might also have got a second booking for an 88th minute trip on Alli. And, to complete the emotional ride, there were flashes of high-end class, namely Ospina’s 25th-minute reflex save that denied Érik Lamela, Ramsey’s improvised flick for the opening goal and Kane’s blockbuster.

In the 89th minute, Gabriel Paulista’s sliced clearance caused palpitations before it narrowly cleared his own crossbar. “You age quicker in games like this, and I am already old enough,” Wenger said. “I cannot afford that.” He could not have afforded another defeat either.

Man of the match David Ospina (Arsenal)

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