Mikel Arteta took a leaf from Jose Mourinho’s book in a tense post-match interview after Arsenal were made to pay for Rob Holding’s early dismissal against Tottenham on Thursday evening. Harry Kane’s first-half brace gave the Gunners a mountain to climb before Son Heung-min’s close-range strike after the interval secured a memorable win for the hosts, who maintained their hopes of securing Champions League football next season by claiming all three points in the second north London derby of the campaign.
Arsenal started well but were pegged back when Cedric Soares gifted Tottenham an early spot-kick that was duly converted by Kane before the England ace went on to double his tally just moments after Holding’s dismissal. The 26-year-old was sent off after picking up a second yellow card for a brainless foul on Son, who added a third goal for Spurs after half-time to rubber-stamp his side’s biggest win over Arsenal since 1983.
Arteta was visibly furious with the match officials when quizzed by Sky Sports on the action that unfolded after the final whistle. The Spaniard appeared to emulate Mourinho by refusing to speak about Tottenham’s early spot-kick or Holding’s sending-off before urging referee Paul Tierney to explain his thinking to the world in front of the cameras.
“If I say what I think I’m suspended [for] six months,” fumed the Arsenal boss. “I don’t know how to lie and I don’t like lying so I prefer not to say what I think, I cannot say.
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“With my players no [I’m not unhappy]. I want the referee to come in front of the camera and explain his decisions. A beautiful game was destroyed today.
“The decision [to send Holding off] is made, I cannot change it. The referee has to make the decision and react in football.”
Arteta went on to insist that his players were not to blame for the eventual result against Spurs, who made the most of their extra man over the course of the match and never looked like allowing the points to slip away from them as the clock ticked down. The Gunners are still leading the race to qualify for next season’s Champions League, though, and can book their place in the tournament by winning both of their final two Premier League matches.
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“This game is history for us, now it is Newcastle,” added Arteta. “We know how it went out of our hands and we accept it, now we go to Newcastle and be the team you saw right from the beginning in this stadium.
“This is very acceptable, we lost a football match in the conditions that we lost. It’s painful but that pain cannot be sustained as we have a huge match on Monday. Now I talk about the excitement of playing Newcastle.
“We have two games to play, each of us, it’s in our hands and now we have to do our job.”
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