‘The performance was perfect’ – Heung-min Son reflects on an ’emotional’ North London Derby

Tottenham Hotspur captain Heung-min Son has been reflecting on what he described as a ‘tough’ North, London derby, and said his side put in a ‘fantastic’ performance to come away with a point.

A feisty affair at the Emirates Stadium ultimately ended in a 2-2 draw, as both Arsenal and Tottenham were able to retain their unbeaten league records.

Arsenal took the lead through a Cristian Romero own goal in the first half as the Argentinian deflected Bukayo Saka’s effort past Guglielmo Vicario. 

Tottenham equalised through Heung-min Son after some fine work from James Maddison to go in at the break level.

Romero was involved again in the second half, as Arsenal were awarded a harsh penalty from a handball by the 25-year-old. Saka coolly converted the resulting spot-kick. However, less than two minutes later, Tottenham were level again and it was their captain who applied the finish once more. 

Despite intense pressure from Spurs from then on, the scoreline remained balanced until the end.

Son says Spurs gave a perfect performance

Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Son had plenty of positive things to say about his side’s performance, and also commented on the decision to award Arsenal the penalty.

He said: “It’s a derby, it’s always a tough game. But the performance was fantastic from the lads until the last whistle. I think we gave everything so I think the fans can be proud of the game. Obviously, we wanted to win, but I think the performance was perfect.”

On the controversial penalty, Son added: “Look the referee made a decision, we can’t just argue about this decision. We have VAR in this situation.

“Obviously the derby is an emotional game. It’s a decision we accepted and we bounced back really strongly. Coming back at the time was important. We showed great character and [James] Maddison showed great bravery.”

Spurs Web Opinion

I think a draw is just about a fair result overall, though we could have maybe capitalised on that period in the second half after our second goal. That should not have been a penalty for Arsenal, but as Son says, there is no point getting hung up about it.