Ian Wright has delivered his verdict on Tottenham Hotspur’s shout for a penalty right before Bukayo Saka’s goal in the North London Derby.
Ange Postecoglou’s side were made to pay the price for some poor defending yesterday as they fell to a 3-2 defeat to Arsenal.
In truth, it was a nightmare first half for Spurs as they trailed 3-0 at the break after conceding two goals from corners.
But it could have been a lot different for Tottenham after an eventful couple of minutes before Bukayo Saka doubled the Gunners’ lead.
Micky van de Ven had a goal ruled out by the VAR for offside just two minutes before Arsenal’s second. Dejan Kulusevski had an appeal for a penalty turned down moments before Saka’s goal too.
The Swedish winger attempted to stay on his feet after he was clipped by Leandro Trossard in the area. Kulusevski eventually fell to the ground but the VAR deemed there was ‘minimal contact’ between the players.
Of course, Arsenal then hit Spurs on the counterattack which led to Saka handing his side a two-goal cushion in the game.
Now, Ian Wright has explained why he believes Tottenham should have been awarded a penalty.
Wright says Tottenham should have had penalty
Speaking on Wrighty’s House, Wright admitted he would have wanted a penalty had the same happened to an Arsenal player.
“You know the thing with that particular foul, I still think personally I would want it because simply when you go into the penalty area, he is going at pace, Trossard is not trying to tackle him, he is running back with him but then Trossard is in the box and his leg is in a place where it’s caught Kulusevski,” the Arsenal legend said.
“With his honesty, he has tried to stay up, now the reason I’m giving that as a penalty – even though people say Trossard didn’t know it was happening – is that it happened and it happened in the penalty box.”
Spurs have right to feel hard done by
While there was minimal contact between Kulusevski and Trossard, there’s no doubt that the contact prevented the Spurs star from keeping control of the ball.
The 24-year-old tried to remain on his feet and it’s frustrating for Spurs that their appeals were possibly waved away due to his honesty.
Nevertheless, Tottenham will be disappointed with how easily Arsenal caught them out on the counter just moments later.
Spurs did fight back after the breakthrough goals from Cristian Romero and Heung-min Son, with the latter netting from the spot.
The Lilywhites were awarded a penalty after Michael Oliver somehow missed Declan Rice’s late challenge on Ben Davies, only for the VAR to intervene.
