Wenger admits Arsenal ‘lacked something’ in derby defeat

Michael Graham

Arsene Wenger said Arsenal ‘lacked something’ as they fell to a dismal 2-0 North London derby defeat to Tottenham at White Hart Lane.

Dele Alli and Harry Kane struck just two minutes apart to maintain Spurs’ interest in the title race, but the loss certainly damages Arsenal’s Champions League hopes.

“Yes, overall they deserved the win,” Wenger told Sky Sports. “Because first of all they scored two goals and we didn’t but it was an even game until the first goal.

“Then straight away after that we conceded the penalty. You could see we were affected by that and Spurs looked more dangerous than before.

“And as we didn’t come back to 2-1 they were comfortable. We did not create enough but that is down to Spurs as well, they were sharper than us physically and we were too restricted in our game.

“At the moment we are not back to the level of confidence we need to play in the way we can. The desire was there but we lacked something today.”

The win also ensures Tottenham will finish above Arsenal for the first time in 22 years, but Wenger insisted that did not concern him.

“Well done to them, but when you start the championship the target is not to finish above Spurs, it is to fight for the title.

“In 20 years it happened once. Mathematically it has to happen once. We are not happy with it but we don’t compare ourselves to Spurs, we compare ourselves to where we want to be.”