Tottenham Hotspur kept their hopes of Champions League football alive as they beat bitter rivals Arsenal on Thursday evening. The 3-0 win sees the Lilywhites move to within a point of the Gunners, who currently occupy fourth spot in the league table, with two games left to play for both teams.
Spurs took the lead when Cedric was adjudged to have fouled Heung-Min Son in the box, and Harry Kane sent Aaron Ramsdale the wrong way to put the home side 1-0 up. The Gunners were then reduced to ten men when Rob Holding was sent off for elbowing Son after having already been booked earlier in the game.
Even with Holding sent off, Arsenal chose not to bring Ben White off the bench, instead opting to put Granit Xhaka into the backline. 1-0 became 2-0 when Rodrigo Bentancur’s header from a corner was put away by Kane at the far post. Son himself added a third just after the interval to put the game beyond the visitors’ reach.
The result wasn’t overtly damaging to the Gunners’ CL chances- their hopes are very much in their own hands. However, they finished with Tomiyasu, Cedric and Xhaka playing in central defence following an injury to Gabriel, and Arteta will be hoping that the Brazilian’s injury isn’t too serious ahead of this weekend’s crunch clash against Newcastle.
