Tottenham's Mousa Dembele knocked Arsenal rival Mesut Ozil off the ball 'like a little boy', says Danny Murphy

BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images
Sam Long8 November 2016

Tottenham midfielder Mousa Dembele made Arsenal counterpart Mesut Ozil look like "a little boy" during the north London derby, according to Danny Murphy.

Dembele was an integral part of Spurs' success last term, but has been restricted to just four Premier League appearances this season due to a combination of injury and suspension.

However, the Belgium international produced an accomplished display at the Emirates Stadium, winning a penalty which Harry Kane converted to salvage a crucial point for Mauricio Pochettino's side.

The Argentine coach hailed Dembele as a football "genius" in the wake of Sunday's 1-1 draw, and Standard Sport columnist Murphy is adamant the Gunners struggled to cope with his former Fulham teammate's driving runs from deep.

"This is the type of form he showed last year and what he's capable of," Murphy told BBC Sport.

"Maybe he doesn't do it often enough but when he plays like this it's very hard to stop him.

"He likes to feel people around him because he's so strong and he's got that burst to go past people.

"Many times in the game he got Spurs from defensive areas to attacking areas.

"Defensively he's very strong - he's added this to his game - when he came to Fulham he was actually a winger.

"Now he's turned into a strong, powerful defensive midfielder and knocks [Mesut] Ozil off the ball like a little boy."

In Pictures: Arsenal vs Tottenham | 06/11/2016

1/45

Dembele was often deployed alongside Eric Dier in midfield last season, but has already proven his worth next to Victor Wanyama as well as in Pochettino's new system - a three-man defence with two forwards - at the weekend.

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has set his side up in a similar formation to great success in recent weeks, but Pochettino has dismissed any suggestion the Italian' methods influenced his own decision.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in