Mauricio Pochettino believes Tottenham were better than Arsenal in all aspects after their contentious 1-1 draw at Wembley.
Harry Kane continued his north London derby love affair with his ninth goal in nine appearances against Arsenal while Hugo Lloris saved a 90th-minute penalty as Spurs prevented their fierce rivals from moving to within a point of them in the race for the top four.
After Kane had rattled in a 74th-minute spot-kick to cancel out Aaron Ramsey’s first-half opener, Lloris then kept out Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s penalty to ensure a first Premier League draw for Spurs this season.
“If we assess the game I think we were better than Arsenal in all the aspects,” Pochettino told his post-match press conference.
“It was a fantastic game, exciting game with great atmosphere with two teams that wanted to play and win the game.
“It’s tough to play Arsenal, conceding after 15 minutes was tough for us. But I am so happy with the character and personality that we played with.
“Our performance was not great, but it was really good to draw and maybe deserve to win. After two defeats it was important today to start to build our positive run.
“We have a very difficult game against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday. To arrive there in better condition than we did today is going to be key.”
Lloris’ dramatic late stop ensured Spurs avoided three successive Premier League defeats, which would have left Tottenham’s chances of sealing a place in the top four in serious jeopardy.
The Frenchman’s performance would have gone a long way to atoning for the farcical Kieran Trippier own goal he conceded in Wednesday’s defeat at Chelsea, though Pochettino insists his captain had nothing to prove.
“The whole team had a bad night on Wednesday, not only Hugo,” the Spurs boss added. “He wasn’t responsible for Wednesday’s defeat. I cannot blame him.
“He is one of the best goalkeepers in the world, he doesn’t need to show that, he has nothing to prove.”
(Sky Sports)
