Tottenham Hotspur's chances of a fourth-place finish are slipping away as they fell to 'north London rivals' Arsenal despite Son Heung-min's penalty.
Tottenham Hotspur conceded three goals in the first 38 minutes of their home match against Arsenal in the 35th round of the 2023-2024 English Premier League at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, on Sunday (Aug. 28) at 10 p.m. ET, but Son Heung-min's penalty was enough to secure a 2-3 defeat. Tottenham's Son Heung-min scored his 16th league goal on a penalty kick in full-time.
Arsenal and Tottenham are North London rivals. Arsenal leads the Premier League with 77 points after 34 games and Tottenham is fifth with 60 points after 32 games. Arsenal are in a tight title race with Manchester City, who have played one game less and are one point behind, and Spurs are also in a tight race for fourth place with Aston Villa, who have played three games more and are 67 points behind, with a Champions League spot up for grabs.
Arsenal struck first in the 12th minute. A long ball from Arsenal's Thomas Partey found Martin Ødegaard in the back of the defense, who found Kai Havertz, who fired home a one-on-one with the keeper, but the goal was disallowed as Ødegaard was already offside.
In the 15th minute, Tottenham conceded a ridiculous own goal. A left-footed corner from the right was curled in by Saka Boukayo and struck the head of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who was trying to stop Takehiro Tomiyasu from heading it in at the near post. Instead of celebrating, the Arsenal squad huddled together for a meeting, showing their determination to get back into the game.
In the 22nd minute, Tottenham equalized. Pedro Foro's long-range shot from the back following a corner from the left was deflected by the Arsenal defense and fell to Micky Vanderboven in the box, who slotted home with his left foot to equalize. However, after a VAR review, the goal was disallowed for offside as Vanderben got to the ball.
Instead, Arsenal added a second goal. In the 27th minute, on a counter-attack after breaking up a Tottenham attack, a long pass was played into the box for a one-timed run forward, where Xhaka was quick to get into the box and finish with his left foot to give Arsenal a 2-0 lead.
In the 38th minute, Arsenal scored their third goal of the game. Declan Rice curled in a 바카라 corner from the left with his right foot that found the head of Kai Havertz right in front of goal, and Havertz headed home to make it 3-0 against Tottenham after 38 minutes.
A golden opportunity came for Son Heung-min in the 44th minute. Right-back Pedro Foro spotted Son Heung-min in front of him and played a long ball into the box, where the South Korean found space behind the defense and beat a defender to the ball, only to see his right-footed shot sail high into the air. It was Spurs' best chance of the first half, barring the goal disallowed.
In the end, Spurs went to the locker room at halftime with a shocking 0-3 score. It was a first half that didn't look like it was going to be easy to change the outcome without a big second half turnaround.
The start of the second half was no different. In the seventh minute of the second half, a cross from Haberz inside the left box was met by Xhaka, who fell in front of the keeper and fired a left-footed shot that was saved by goalkeeper Guillermo Vicario.
Tottenham capitalized on Arsenal's mistake to pull a goal back. In the 19th minute of the second half, Arsenal goalkeeper David Luiz's backpass was too weak and fell to Tottenham's Christian Romero, who was right in front of the keeper, and Romero calmly slotted home a right-footed shot from a one-on-one opportunity to make it 1-3.
Tottenham then tried to turn the tide by introducing the likes of Henry and Yves Bissouma, but Arsenal's defense held firm. Then, in the 40th minute, Ben Davies was brought down in the box to earn a penalty kick, which Son stepped up and calmly slotted home with his right foot to make it 2-3. However, they were unable to overturn the result and lost.
In the end, Tottenham ended the season in the worst possible mood, losing again to Arsenal despite having a week's rest after a 0-4 thrashing 15 days earlier.
