North London is painted red as Spurs suffer back-to-back losses

The Premier League returned last weekend after the conclusion of a short international break, as Tottenham hosted their North London rivals, Arsenal.

Following a disappointing defeat at St James’ Park a couple of weeks ago, Spurs were keen on grabbing their second win of the season against their bitter rivals. Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhães had other ideas. With a 64th-minute header from a set-piece and in the blink of an eye, Cristian Romero lost the centre-back in a scurry to defend the corner from Bukayo Saka, Arsenal were ahead. It was subsequently the winning goal in another promising, yet disappointing, performance from Tottenham.

Image from Sky Sports

Four changes to the Spurs side from Newcastle ahead of the North London Derby. Radu Dragusin made way for a returning Micky van de Ven, as the Dutch centre-back recovered to full fitness following a brief knee injury. Bentancur, amidst all the controversy, replaced an injured Bissouma while Kulusevski dropped into midfield to take over from Pape Sarr. In attack, summer signing Wilson Odobert departed the starting eleven for a more experienced Brennan Johnson and Dominic Solanke inherited his natural central position from Son following his absence due to an ankle injury sustained at Leicester.

In an identical predicament to Newcastle, Tottenham were not scarce in creating chances against Arsenal. Spurs attempted fifteen shots against the gunners, five of which on target. Dominic Solanke was close to scoring in the first half with an attempted looping header over David Raya, which went inches wide of the woodwork.

Frustrations ran extremely high, especially in the latter stages of the second half, as Jurriën Timber caught Pedro Porro on the ankle, asking questions about whether the challenge should have qualified for a straight red card. Referee Jarred Gillett did not seem to think so as he brandished a yellow card to the Arsenal defender. The reaction of Guglielmo Vicario did not go unnoticed as the Italian immediately confronted Timber in a heated exchange following the challenge. The Tottenham goalkeeper subsequently received Spurs’ third yellow card of the half.

Five yellow cards were shown to the men in lilywhite in the first half. Others were given to Destiny Udogie, Bentancur, van de Ven and Kulusevski. Fortunately, no more were presented to Spurs throughout the second half.

Kulusevski came extremely close to scoring a screamer in extra time, taking inspiration from Jhon Duran’s winner against Everton on Saturday, in an attempt that narrowly missed the top left corner. It would have been a very tight competition for goal of the week between the two if it had gone in.

Unfortunately, Tottenham did not have a response to Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, and suffered back-to-back Premier League defeats, placing them in the bottom half of the table.

Before the game, Postecoglou highlighted the issue surrounding Yves Bissouma, where the Mali international suffered a groin injury, which he described as “not serious”. Despite scoring the winning goal, the twenty-eight-year-old was forced off in the 66th minute against Eswatini in the group stage of the qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations. Whether Bissouma will return to the starting eleven on Wednesday for the third round of EFL cup against Coventry or against Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday is still yet to be determined.

Image from the Guardian

Image from TalkSPORT

The Tottenham manager also addressed the controversy encompassing Rodrigo Bentancur, after the Uruguayan was charged by the Football Association for racist comments made towards Spurs captain Son Heung Min. He mentioned in a TV interview that “they all look the same”, concerning his South Korean heritage. The midfielder apologised on social media - "Sony brother! I apologise to you for what happened, it was just a very bad joke! You know what I love you and I would never disrespect you or hurt you or anyone else! I love you brother!" - but this may not be enough to defer an inevitable ban from English football.

A far more compact schedule awaits Ange Postecoglou, with Tottenham competing in European and domestic competitions over the next few weeks. Spurs will travel to Coventry on Wednesday for their inaugurate domestic contest of the season in the EFL cup. Next Thursday Tottenham will welcome Qarabag FK to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for Spurs’ first match of their European campaign, while sandwiched in between the two is a home game to Brentford in the Premier League. Therefore, late September will prove to be a test for the fitness and squad dept of Postecoglou’s Tottenham.

Player Ratings:

Vicario (7); Udogie (6); van de Ven (8), Romero (5); Porro (6); Bentancur (6); Kulusevski (6); Maddison (6), Johnson (5); Son (6); Solanke (6). Subs: Sarr (6); Timo Werner (6); Wilson Odobert (6).