Arsenal star Ben White caught trying to loosen Vicario’s gloves before Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg own goal
Elite gamesmanship from the Arsenal defender.
Many Spurs fans began making their way towards the exit as Kai Havertz put Arsenal three goals in front before the halfway stage at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this afternoon.
This weekend’s north London derby had been billed as a potential banana skin in Arsenal’s push for the Premier League title, with champions Manchester City facing Nottingham Forest later today, but Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs rolled over in what was a feeble first-half display.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg inadvertently directed the ball into his own net following a corner to hand Arsenal the lead in the 15th minute and things went from bad to worse for the hosts as the Bukayo Saka finished off a clinical counter-attacking move to increase the deficit.
After Tottenham had a goal disallowed for offside, Kai Havertz – seemingly a player reborn in recent weeks – headed home to pile yet more misery on the home team as the Gunners once again wreaked havoc from a corner.
Analysing Arsenal’s opener, former Manchester United right-back Gary Neville – speaking on Sky Sports’ commentary of the game – highlighted White’s role in the goal, branding the defender a ‘nuisance’ in the build-up.
‘It’s been the same setup all year for Arsenal and it has been good all year,’ Neville said as Arsenal scored their 20th set-piece goal to break the deadlock in north London.
‘Ben White the nuisance, the five big lads getting across that near post. [Takehiro] Tomiyasu just does enough.
‘He bugs Hojbjerg and he can’t get a full head on it. Vicario has no chance. It is past him in a flash.’
Replays showed how White had been attempting to loosen Vicario’s gloves in the moments leading up to Hojbjerg’s own goal, with the Tottenham goalkeeper seen swatting the defender away instead of concentrating on the set piece.
Clips of the incident quickly went viral on social media and White’s display of gamesmanship has been applauded by Arsenal supporters.
Many Spurs fans, meanwhile, have questioned how White managed to get away with the act of skullduggery given referee Michael Oliver had seemingly been stood in a great position.
Ex-Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson blasted Spurs’ ‘terrible’ performance at the half-time break and claimed he ‘felt sorry’ for Ben Davies after Saka’s 27th-minute strike to double the visitors’ advantage.
‘It is ruthless but bad by Tottenham, terrible by Tottenham, no awareness,’ Merson said in the Sky Sports studio.
‘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.’
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