Free-scoring Spurs throws down top four challenge to Arsenal
Tottenham players milking the applause after their 5-1 thrashing of Newcastle at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
WITH north London rivals Tottenham and Arsenal neck and neck, the fight for Champions League qualification looks like being as hard fought as the title race in the English Premier League.
Tottenham’s superior attacking power might yet prove decisive in the final stretch.
Out of nowhere, Antonio Conte’s team is the highest-scoring team in the league in 2022 — with 30 goals in 13 games — after overwhelming Newcastle to win 5-1 on Sunday.
It lifted Spurs above Arsenal into fourth place, the final qualification spot for the Champions League, but only on goal difference. Arsenal has two games in hand, the first being a tricky one at Crystal Palace on Monday.
“Now I have had five or six months to work and bring my idea of football and mentality,” said Conte, who replaced Nuno Espirito Santo as manager in November.
“This league is very difficult but to play against us is not easy in this moment.”
With Ben Davies, Matt Doherty, Son Heung-min, Emerson Royal and substitute Steven Bergwijn scoring, the big surprise was that in-form striker Harry Kane didn’t get in on the act.
Fourth place might not be the ceiling for Tottenham and Arsenal, who have only the Premier League to focus on. Chelsea is only five points ahead in third and has to juggle playing in the Champions League and FA Cup over the next month, too.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has a big task at Crystal palace Monday and says the only mind games he intends to play over the season’s run-in will be with his own players, rejecting the temptation to engage in speculation with his counterparts over its outcome.
The Arsenal manager was asked if he agreed with Antonio Conte’s suggestion last month that his team are favourites to take fourth place – a statement that did not anticipate the fact third could also be up for grabs if Chelsea continue to stutter – and whether that status would put pressure on them. He refused to get drawn in and said psychological tactics will be most effectively deployed internally.
“I don’t know, that is a question for him,” Arteta said. “But what we want to do is very clear, and the perception of what people think is not going to change it.”
Arsenal’s horizons have shifted immeasurably since losing their opening three games and they visit Selhurst Park in search of a seventh win in eight. Arteta said he has no concerns about his young squad’s capacity to deal with the change in expectation.
“There is nothing different, they have already been dealing with it for weeks,” he said. “Because this is a conversation we have had now for over six to eight weeks, so they have already been through that and have responded really, really well so there is nothing new because they have already been doing it and capable of doing it.”
Bernd Leno will continue in goal at Selhurst Park unless Aaron Ramsdale recovers ahead of schedule from a hip injury. The Germany international has been in the cold this season and his appearance in the victory at Aston Villa was his first in the top flight since August. Arteta praised the 30-year-old’s attitude but does not regret confining him to the bench.
“This is football and it’s not an individual sport,” he said. “When he’s been playing for 10 years that meant someone has been there waiting for that opportunity, and I have a lot of sympathy with every player that doesn’t play and doesn’t get the chances they probably deserve but unfortunately that’s the game.
“He’s done a very similar thing to Cédric [Soares] and Nico [Pépé]. Not accepting the situation but trying to improve it. And then he’s been consistent in the way he trained, the way he behaved, in those months, waiting for the opportunity and, when he had it, to take it.”
West Ham aren't quite out of contention for fourth place yet after its 2-1 win over relegation-threatened Everton. That lifted West Ham into sixth place, above Manchester United, and three points behind Tottenham and Arsenal.
Jarrod Bowen marked his return to the team after injury with the winning goal, forcing home a rebound after Michail Antonio’s shot was saved by Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
Aaron Cresswell gave West Ham the lead with a curling free kick into the top corner in the 32nd, only for Mason Holgate to equalize in the 53rd with a deflected shot.
Everton defender Michael Keane was sent off soon after Bowen’s goal for picking up a second booking, and the team remained in deep trouble just one place and three points above the relegation zone.
The situation could get even worse if Frank Lampard’s team loses at next-to-last Burnley on Wednesday. Everton has lost its last six away matches in all competitions.
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