North London Derby Post Match Reactions: Arteta blames referee; Conte thanks fans
Tottenham Hotspur thrashed Arsenal in the latest iteration of the North London derby.
Spurs won 3-0 in front of their home fans but we're helped by a disorganised Arsenal who could not come back from an early res card to defender Rob Holding to regroup for the rest of the game.
A brace from Harry Kane, his 12th and 13th goals in 17 North London derby games and a goal from man on form Heung-Min Son for his 21st of the Premier League season helped Spurs' draw within one point of Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta holds back on bashing referees
A visibly angry Mikel Arteta stopped short of accusing the referees of bias towards Tottenham in his post-match comments to Sky Sports.
The Spanish manager said: “If I say what I think I am suspended for six months. I don’t know how to lie so I prefer not to say what I think. I cannot say what I think.
“I am not unhappy with my players. I am proud of my players. I want the referee to come in front of the camera and explain his decisions. It’s a shame because such a beautiful game was destroyed today.
“The decision was made. We can’t change it. The referee has to make a decision in football.
“To take that risk [of bringing on Ben White] in the situation of the game made no sense. Our focus is Newcastle. This game is history. He felt something so hopefully Ben will be fit and Gabriel will recover as we do not have enough players in the backline.
Arteta then shifted the focus to their next two games, which would determine their place in next season's UEFA Champions League.
“This game is history. Now it’s Newcastle. This is gone. It went out of our hands and we have to accept it," he said. "Now we need to be the team that you saw from the beginning. You lose a football match in the conditions we lost them.
"It’s painful. But we have a huge match on Monday so we will try to beat them.
“We have two games to play each. It’s in our hands and now we have to do our jobs. We showed from the beginning in this game.”
Conte: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium atmosphere amazing
On the other hand, Arteta's counterpart Antonio Conte had nothing but praise for the 12th man of the team, the fans at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Italian credited them with pushing the side to give their all on the pitch for the three points, which gives them hope of finishing in the top four.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Conte said: “Yeah for sure. The atmosphere was amazing. For this reason we have to give thanks to our fans. They were incredible and pushed us a lot.
"We repaid them with a good win. We won an important derby and now we are close to them in the table."
Conte, who was coaching in his first North London derby, noted that their fixture against Burnelt has already overshadowed the euphoria of Thursday's victory over Arsenal as it is a match that will determine their future.
“For sure, we need to recover very well because we will play on Sunday against a team that has beaten us. I was very clear with my players – to enjoy and celebrate in the right way but at the same time think about Sunday as otherwise this win will not be important," he said.
Conte also priased Harry Kane, whose form has skyrocketed following the slowest start to the season. “Harry Kane is very accurate in every training sessions. He stays afterwards to do penalties. I have never seen him make a mistake," he said.
"Honestly, I’m very calm because I know that he is very good. We are talking about a fantastic striker."
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