Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino hailed his side’s response to Wednesday’s defeat at West Ham in the north London derby but could not hide his disappointment as the ten men of Arsenal stole a point from White Hart Lane.
A thrilling encounter saw neither side claim the three points they badly needed in the title race, with Alexis Sanchez striking late to deny Spurs a comeback win.
Pochettino’s side had taken complete advantage of Francis Coquelin’s reckless sending off early in the second half, turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 advantage within seven minutes through first Toby Alderweireld and then a spectacular curling effort from Harry Kane, his fourth in three league games against Arsenal.
Despite their advantage in numbers and on the scoreboard Tottenham spent much of the closing minutes of the game pinned back, with Aaron Ramsey nearly securing a late winner for Arsenal.
Though it could have been a morale-boosting three points for his side Pochettino professed himself happy with Tottenham’s performance despite the nature of the result.
“I am pleased. It's true, when it was 2-1 I am little bit disappointed with the result, but we have to be happy we keep the three-point gap to Arsenal,” he told BT Sport.
“After Harry's goal it was 11 versus 10, and they scored a very good goal but it was our mistake. Overall, the response after the West Ham game was fantastic.
North London Derby In Pictures
“In our position, two points from the top, we have nine games ahead and we need to be focused on Thursday against Borussia Dortmund, they are a very tough side too and we cannot stop.”
Leicester can extend their advantage over Tottenham to five points with victory over Watford later this evening.
