Tottenham were so much better than Arsenal it was like watching Barcelona vs Espanyol
Gunners are just an OK club and an OK team, going through the motions until Wenger leaves... Cech aside, they were abysmal
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IT FELT like you were watching Barcelona playing against Espanyol.
A derby, yes, but all a bit manufactured, given the dominance and superiority enjoyed by Barca down the years.
Arsenal, with the exception of their human wall Petr Cech, were abysmal.
These Gunners fans, whooping from the rooftops when they were battering Everton 5-1 last weekend, deserve better.
The 2003-04 Invincibles, that Arsenal side everybody talks about when they want to give Arsene Wenger a good kicking, are no more.
Wenger dismantled them — and could not rebuild them.
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The Frenchman will surely go at the end of the season, unless he can somehow pull Champions League football out of the bag. Unlikely.
Wenger, the man who won three Premier League titles with Arsenal, is now out of tricks. He is also behind the times.
A young and vibrant Tottenham have finally caught them up, overtaking them on Saturday with a polished performance at the national stadium.
It has taken 22 years but Spurs are in the ascendancy now.
Arsenal are just an OK club and an OK team, doing a bit here and there until they work out how the hell they are going to move on after Wenger.
When you spend big, when you sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in a January panic, they have to make the difference in tight spots.
Saturday was one of them.
But Mkhitaryan was dreadful, hooked after 65 anonymous minutes in his third appearance in an Arsenal shirt.
A pattern is already forming because he was excellent against Everton at home, disappointing on his debut at Swansea and again at Tottenham.
Aubameyang did not get the service he craves but was reluctant to make the runs needed to take Jan Vertonghen or Davinson Sanchez out of their comfort zone.
LAC-ING CLASS Arsenal fan burns Lacazette shirt after horror miss in derby loss to Tottenham
Alexandre Lacazette, clearly miffed he is now second choice to the Gabon superstar, missed a decent chance to equalise in the final minute.
And boss Wenger admitted: “He has gone through difficult periods before.
“He works hard in training, works on his finishing.
“I don’t know what happened with the miss but it can happen because it is a fraction of a second.
“Maybe the confidence is not at its highest because he has seen a competitor coming in.”
To play a North London derby at Wembley and come away without having a proper dig on Hugo Lloris’ goal in 90 minutes, is wretched.
And Gunners defender Hector Bellerin admits they have gone soft at the back.
Bellerin and Co were left pointing fingers at each other after Harry Kane powered in a 49th-minute header.
The Spanish full-back said: “We didn’t do what we should have done — we didn’t defend the crosses properly.
“Sometimes you make these mistakes but we need to have more of the ball.
“We are a team comfortable playing the ball and need to play our game more often.
“Tottenham came into the second half stronger than us — it’s something we must look at.”
Amazingly, Bellerin claimed Arsenal were worthy of a point — despite having only one decent shot on goal.
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He added: “In the last 20 minutes we had chances and dominated a little bit more.
“It’s a frustration because we could have gone home with a point, if not three points.”
Arsenal fly out to Sweden to face Ostersunds in the Europa League on Thursday.
Wenger has promised to field a full-strength side — whatever that means these days.
They will probably win and then everybody will pretend all is well at the Emirates — until they host Manchester City on March 1.
By then, Spurs could be TEN POINTS clear of them. Ouch.