Arsenal 2-2 Spurs | Ange’s verdict: “I thought our football was outstanding”

Ange Postecoglou felt the players showed ‘all elements’ of a performance as we came from behind twice to draw 2-2 against Arsenal at the Emirates on Sunday.

Heung-Min Son struck both goals as we responded impressively to Bukayo Saka’s opener, a heavy deflection of Cuti Romero on 26 minutes and then within a minute of going 2-1 down in the second half, this time Saka from the spot after a handball awarded by VAR.

James Maddison provided the assist for both goals, the first a dart down the left byline before picking Sonny out, the second even better, robbing Jorginho of possession 35 yards out and timing his pass to perfection to allow Sonny to just guide the ball into the corner.

Typically, both teams had chances to win it - the outstanding Guglielmo Vicario denied Saka his hat-trick on 90 minutes and in the final seconds of 10 minutes’ added time, Deki Kulusevski set up Richarlison, whose shot was deflected narrowly wide.

So, it was honours even, and both teams hold onto their unbeaten starts in the Premier League after six matches.

Speaking pitchside for The Review Show on SPURSPLAY, Ange told us: “Credit to the lads, I thought we were outstanding today against a top team, at a difficult venue. We had to work our way into the game, and I thought we showed all elements of it. When we had to defend, I thought we defended really well, we played our football and when it didn’t work, we persisted, which was great, all underpinned by a strong work ethic and outstanding character.”

Ange said beforehand he wanted to see the team play our football in such a high-profile fixture, and the stats highlight exactly that - 53% possession, 373 passes to 312 and 13 efforts at goal.

“It’s not everything for us, but when you come to a difficult venue against a top team, you know that you are not going to control the game or dominate the game for 100 minutes,” added Ange. “There were times where we had to be really strong and resilient, I thought guys like Romero, Vicario, Bissouma, they all stood up in those critical moments.

“Then, when we got a foothold in the game, I thought our football was outstanding because, again, you’re playing a top team and our possession, working our way through and then we had the quality in the front third to capitalise.”