José Mourinho had said that he could not wait for the season to finish and, given the gloomy mood that shadowed Tottenham into this derby and the state of the Premier League table, it was easy to see why. Yet there was a dose of unexpected cheer at the expense of their in-form neighbours when Spurs found a way to turn the tide of a second-half that seemed to be slipping away from them.
The decisive blow was struck late on by Toby Alderweireld, who rose to flick Son Heung-min’s corner into the roof of the net. Defensively, Arsenal broke down – why was Kieran Tierney marking Alderweireld? – but Spurs had done enough. It was not a vintage performance from them yet Mourinho would not have cared. He needed this and what it meant was plain. At full-time, the Spurs substitute goalkeeper, Paulo Gazzaniga, hammered a ball high into the sky and there were big hugs from Mourinho for his staff.
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