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⚽️ News, discussion and reflection before Sunday’s games ⚽️ This weekend’s fixtures | Mail us your thoughts Question of the day: when will Spurs score a goal? Tottenham fans, what do you think has been going wrong so far this season? Be sure to email in or leave a comment below the line. Roberto De Zerbi says his Tottenham players continue to lack physical fitness and must “unblock” themselves in psychological terms after they drew their latest Premier League blank.
Elsewhere, Chelsea were held to a 2-2 draw by high-flying Hull City at Stamford Bridge.
Question of the day: when will Spurs score a goal? Tottenham fans, what do you think has been going wrong so far this season? Be sure to email in or leave a comment below the line.
Roberto De Zerbi says his Tottenham players continue to lack physical fitness and must “unblock” themselves in psychological terms after they drew their latest Premier League blank.
> He explained: “There is a word in Italian – sbloccarsi – that literally translates as if we unblock ourselves.
> “[It is] a mental block because four games, no wins, no goals scored … it is tough for the players. The team is extremely strong, we can score goals and we can win games. And then we have to respect the history of the players in their careers. Forget Dominic Solanke and Marmoush – the other players … they didn’t score many, many goals in their careers and we have to find these goals. I think we can do so with the quality of our play.”
> De Zerbi added: “I said we started this season late for many, many reasons; too late. Many players at the World Cup, many injuries, many problems in Australia. Micky van de Ven suffered an injury in Australia. Domi Solanke the same. James Maddison the same. Mateus Fernandes suffered an injury in Australia. He lost 15 days and it’s not so quick. Sávio and Marmoush, they came 10 days ago. I started to work with this [whole] group not last Thursday but two Thursdays ago. So, I think we have not the right physical condition yet.”
Tottenham’s wait for a Premier League goal continues. It’s now 407 minutes and counting following a 0-0 draw with Everton…
Mikel Arteta was left furious with referee John Brooks last night, despite Arsenal’s 2-0 win against Sunderland.
Before Bruno Guimarães gave Arsenal the lead in a tight match that Régis Le Bris’s team were arguably unlucky to lose, David Raya made a brilliant save to deny Enzo Le Fée from the penalty spot. Arteta, however, did not believe that Ezri Konsa had hauled Dan Ballard to the ground, instead blaming the Sunderland man for pulling down his opponent.
> He said: “We had to overcome a really tough opponent in a difficult place. Sunderland can suffocate you and they decided to be really physical and very direct and we also had to overcome a situation that, in my opinion was unacceptable at this level.
> “I’m very worried and sad because this can never be a penalty. It’s a judo roll from the opponent. Ezri does nothing. We have to take responsibility to protect the game. Today the game was unprotected and it could have cost us the win and our momentum. I’m really sad. It should never have happened.”
Let’s take a quick look back at last night, when Arsenal earned a 2-0 win against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light thanks to goals from Bruno Guimarães and Bukayo Saka.
People in this story
- Mikel Arteta
- Roberto De Zerbi
- Bukayo Saka
- Bruno Guimarães
- David Raya
- Ezri Konsa
- James Maddison
- Dominic Solanke
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