Tottenham Greatest Mistake at The First Half

Tottenham were ‘terrible’ as Arsenal raced into a first-half lead in the north London derby on Sunday, accusing them of having ‘no awareness’ as Bukayo Saka scored the second goal of the game.

It was a dream first-half for the away side as the Gunners scored three unanswered goals before the break.

A Pierre-Emile Hojberg own goal opened the scoring, before Saka scored on the break and Kai Havertz headed home a third.

It was Saka’s goal that Merson picked out as a really poor one to concede for the home team, saying they failed to spot the danger and then Ben Davies made a poor decision when faced with the England winger.

It is ruthless but bad by Tottenham, terrible by Tottenham, no awareness,’ Merson said on Sky Sports. ‘Everybody’s looking at the ball, no one sees Saka.

‘I feel sorry for Ben Davies in a way, but you know Saka’s coming back on his left. Davies can’t do too much but what he can do is put him on his right foot, if he scores on his right foot you hold your hands up and say I put him on his weaker foot.

‘I’m shouting, you cannot let him back on his left foot. And he doesn’t even do it greatly, he just comes inside and bends it in.’

Merson added: ‘The difference between Arsenal and Tottenham is when they break they break, when Tottenham break they take too long and wait around on the edge of the box.’

Roy Keane felt Spurs were lacking courage in their first-half display, saying: ‘Arsenal have been excellent. Spurs have dominated possession but Arsenal are very much in control of the game.

‘We talked about the importance of set-pieces. Then they had the counter-attacking second goal. Spurs haven’t shown enough courage. Defensively, on set-pieces, they’ve got to do better.’