Harry Kane returned from injury to earn Tottenham Hotspur a 1-1 draw in an absorbing north London derby and foil Arsenal’s attempts to move top of the Premier League at the Emirates on Sunday.
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After riding out the Tottenham’s dominant spell Arsenal began to grow into the game and looked effective on the counter-attack; Alex Iwobi shooting tamely at Hugo Lloris before Theo Walcott struck the inside of the post with a ferocious effort.
Wenger bemoaned his side’s lack of creativity with the scoring coming through a Kevin Wimmer own goal and a second-half Harry Kane penalty.
Arsenal have scored 24 goals this season so they are entitled to say they have no problems upfront, but they may come to regret this opportunity to knock back a Spurs side that had a tough week, which could have been tougher if Wenger’s side had been ruthless. “Maybe the result is fair”.
“It is important to be flexible”, Pochettino said.
Laurent Koscielny was at fault for giving away the penalty as the Frenchman’s clumsy challenge sent Mousa Dembele to the ground.
But the Argentinian also chose to begin the game with a different system, deploying three centre-backs as Eric Dier joined Wimmer and Jan Vertonghen in the heart of the defence.
“I’m very pleased with the performance”, Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino, whose side improved greatly from the midweek Champions League loss to Bayer Leverkusen, said.
“We have been very consistent until now so, even if we are frustrated now, let’s try to transform that into positive energy when the Premier League restarts”.
Arsenal found themselves ahead three minutes before half-time when Spurs centre-back Wimmer diverted Ozil’s in-swinging free-kick into the bottom left corner of his own goal. That was our idea and to play two striker and two midfielders who are more offensive. “The first game back is usually hard when the players come back at different times, but we have a lot of global players and we should be used to it by now”.
Only the post prevented Tottenham grabbing three points when Christian Eriksen curled in a free kick that beat goalkeeper Petr Cech.
“Spurs had two key players out in Toby Alderweireld and Dele Alli and were using a new system, plus Arsenal were playing at home. I’m in the team to score goals”, he said.
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Kane’s equaliser means that Tottenham are still unbeaten in the league this season, marking their best start to a domestic campaign since they were last champions in 1961.
