Arsène Wenger said Arsenal were angry and dizzy after a frenetic 1-1 draw at home to Tottenham Hotspur. The anger came from Olivier Giroud, who missed three presentable second-half headers, while the dizziness belonged to Santi Cazorla, who was not himself because of an illness that Wenger could not explain. The Spaniard came off at half-time.
Wenger, though, was happy enough with the point, which probably shines a light on where the balance of power had been.
Tottenham led through Harry Kane and had the chances to make the game safe, most notably when Toby Alderweireld was denied in the 70th minute by an excellent reaction save from Petr Cech.
Mauricio Pochettino, the Tottenham manager, praised the character of their collective performance and said that his team had “deserved to win”. This, he added, was evidence of the steelier Tottenham that he is trying to construct.
Wenger, too, was pleased with the mental toughness on show from his players, in the wake of last Wednesday’s 5-1 Champions League defeat at Bayern Munich. Kieran Gibbs, a substitute, got the equaliser after 77 minutes and Wenger was left to lament Giroud’s wastefulness.
“Giroud is very angry,” Wenger said. “When you see a player who is happy to miss chances, you can worry. He wanted too much to score, especially the opportunity he had in the six-yard box. But a miss like that can happen. I accept that.”
Cazorla struggled sorely, and the wonder was that Wenger had selected him in the first place.
“We suffered in the first half, as Cazorla was at only 30% of his potential,” Wenger said. “He was dizzy and so many times, I didn’t know whether to take him off or not. He was not sick, just dizzy and he could not move.
“I didn’t know what he had so at half-time I took him off. I hope it is nothing bad. He says he is all right now. He has not gone to hospital. Cazorla is usually the guide in our game and he didn’t get the ball. Tottenham is a good side and, when you play with one guy less and you have to make the game, it’s difficult.
“We showed great mental resources and we refused to give up. Tottenham had a good moment in the second half at 1-0 when they had one or two good chances and Cech kept us in the game. When you are 1-0 down it’s a mixture of relief and regret because, if we were really clinical, we would have won it in the last 15 minutes.
“Giroud had the chances but, if I try to be fair, I must say that the point is maybe a fair result.”
This was Tottenham’s third game in seven days, after last Monday’s win over Aston Villa and Thursday’s Europa League victory over Anderlecht, and Pochettino felt that fatigue was a factor in the final 15 minutes.
“Maybe yes but it’s normal to feel tired,” Pochettino said. “We need to feel very proud. I can’t speak about the Tottenham that you have seen before but I am very happy with the way that we develop our philosophy. Today was a very good example of the way we want to play.
“I am very pleased. The effort of my players was brilliant. In the end we deserved more but it was a very busy week. We showed maturity. It’s a very young team. What can we achieve? I don’t know. It’s impossible to set a limit. But we are very ambitious.”