‘That’s impossible’: Gary Neville explains what surprised him most about Spurs against Arsenal
Gary Neville has said that he anticipated Arsenal to win the North London Derby handily and Tottenham Hotspur to be absolutely outmatched.
Even though Spurs and their North London rivals entered the match even on points and had possibly played superior football in the first five league games of the season, most analysts had predicted that the Gunners would win easily on Sunday (talkSPORT).
That may have been the result of Tottenham’s dismal performance at the Emirates Stadium combined with the expectation that Mikel Arteta’s team will once again be Manchester City’s main competition for the Premier League title.
Spurs, on the other hand, not only came away from the game with a well-earned point, but they also did it while remaining true to their playing style.
Spurs went above and beyond Neville’s expectations
Neville acknowledged that he was taken aback by the steel that Ange Postecoglou’s team displayed after the Lilywhites fell behind twice in the game only to come back fast on both instances.
“I’ll be honest with you today before the game, I thought Arsenal was going to win,” the commentator admitted on The Gary Neville Podcast following the 2-2 tie. I predicted that Arsenal would triumph in this game.
“I predicted they would win relatively easily, that the talent gap would be too great, and that we may have a glimpse of the old Spurs in terms of how they would crumble under pressure, but that hasn’t happened.
I’m therefore happy to be sitting here tonight. I didn’t say that before the game; I don’t go back and change the past. However, in actuality, that’s how I felt.
Before the game, I was dreading the worst and thought that if we committed bodies forward, we may get destroyed.
In the first 30 minutes, it appeared that the game was headed in that direction since our players appeared pretty tense and were making some unwise decisions while building out from the back.
But once we warmed up to the situation and took charge of the most of the second half, we excelled.
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‘I’m so proud’ – Son reacts after reaching major milestone in a Spurs shirt
Son Heung-min has posted on social media to acknowledge his pride in reaching such a significant milestone after scoring his 150th goal for Tottenham.
Son underperformed for much of the previous season after earning the Golden Boot in the 2020–21 campaign, which caused some to wonder if the South Korean was past his prime.
The attacker acknowledged in the summer that he spent a large portion of the previous season playing with an injury (The Athletic), but under Ange Postecoglou he appears to have rediscovered his form after scoring five goals in his first six Premier League games (Transfermarkt).
Heung-min Son joins the Spurs 150 club
The 31-year-old became just the sixth player in history to score 150 goals for Tottenham on Sunday at the Emirates after scoring a brace to help Spurs secure a draw in the North London Derby (Sportskeeda).
The Spurs captain referred to it as a “special milestone” on social media and thanked his teammates for their grit at the Emirates.
Here’s what Son posted on Instagram:
Modern football players who sincerely identify with one team and one group of supporters and decline the chance to transfer to “bigger” clubs in order to advance their careers are extremely uncommon.
