Spurs players and fans had been waiting for the rescheduled North London Derby since the original fixture in January. After the Arsenal camp asked for the clash to be postponed, it was a long wait for the match to be played at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The Lilywhites dominated possession and shots, showed their composure and experience and Antonio Conte’s tactics couldn’t be matched with those of Arsenal. In his post-match press conference he echoed the importance of the clash.
Antonio Conte said: “For sure a good performance and from the start until the end, the approach to manage the game was very positive. You know very well when there are these type of games, these must-win games it’s never easy because today we had only one result, to get three points, to win, only because it was a derby, a north London derby and we knew very well the importance for the fans.”
When speaking to the media ahead of the derby, the Italian was asked if he was frustrated that the match had not yet been played, when it had been originally scheduled for January.
Antonio Conte said: “To speak now about what happened in the past is not useful. For sure, it was very strange that our game was postponed for Covid and Arsenal didn’t have one player with Covid. We lost a game 3-0 [to Rennes] because Premier League didn’t want to move our game when we had 9 or 10 players with Covid. At that time, it was unfair what happened, but now this is the past and we have to be focussed on the present and try to get the best result. The second North London Derby of the season was originally set to be played on Sunday January 16, which would’ve come after Tottenham’s second defeat of the month to Chelsea and before the thrilling 3-2 victory against Leicester.
