Conte has praised three Arsenal players before North London derby
Antonio Conte has praised three members of the Arsenal squad ahead of Thursday’s North London derby, with the Tottenham boss picking out Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Eddie Nketiah as really good technical players.
Tomorrow’s game could have massive implications for the Premier League season. Spurs desperately need a win to keep their top-four hopes alive, with Mikel Arteta’s men four points clear of Tottenham.
Conte’s men took an impressive point away from Anfield at the weekend. And while their performance deserved a lot of credit, it did open the door for Arsenal to open the gap between them.
Certainly, the momentum is with Arsenal with only three games remaining. And Conte is definitely wary of a number of their players ahead of the meeting.
“I think it will be a tactical game. Arsenal are well organised, Arteta is doing a really good job and when you watch Arsenal, you know this team is well organised in the tactical aspect, really good players technically, good one-against-one, Saka, Martinelli, Nketiah,” he told his press conference.
“We have to pay great attention, show great solidity, as always, and at the same time, when we have the ball, we have to try to hurt them.”
Conte has praised three Arsenal players
Obviously, neither side needs any additional help to get motivated for the game. It is arguably one of the biggest derbies for a long time. There is so much potentially riding on who takes fourth this season.
But Tottenham fans can take encouragement from the fact that they simply must win. A draw would do them few favours. They will expect to see their side play aggressive football. And obviously, they have a front three that can cause any team problems.
Reports on Wednesday claimed that Tottenham are still seething behind the scenes about the game originally being postponed in January. So they will be even more desperate to get the kind of results that brings them right back into the race.
But clearly, Conte is aware of how dangerous Arsenal can be themselves.
