In response to a question about Tottenham taking a point away from the Emirates, James Maddison argued that the Lilywhites were fully deserving of the draw.
Maddison, Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie, Guglielmo Vicario, Pape Matar Sarr and Brennan Johnson were all making their North London derby debuts on Sunday.
As expected, some of them made nervy starts to the game, with Spurs giving the ball away in their own third on several occasions in the first 30 minutes.
However, once they settled into the game, Tottenham controlled proceedings and played through the Arsenal press with ease on several occasions.
Despite going behind twice, first to an own goal and then to a controversial penalty, the away side showed character to bounce straight back on both occasions.
Tottenham Hotspur’s English midfielder James Maddison applauds as he is substituted during the pre-season friendly football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Shakhtar Donetsk at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, in London, on August 6, 2023. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP) (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images)
Maddison insists Spurs don’t want to ‘take’ a draw
Maddison insisted that Tottenham gave as good as they got against Arsenal and that a draw was a fair reflection of the game.
Former Norway striker Jan Aage Fjortoft asked him on Viaplay: “If you see the development of the team, you were close to losing to Sheffield United, now you come here and take a point again, answering those critics, how far can you go, how far you can develop?”
Maddison responded: “I don’t like the phrase take a point. We earned a point. It’s a derby, we deserved one point just as much as them, we don’t take anything. We earned it.
“But we won late at Sheffield United but stuff like that and coming back from behind today shows the character we have and we want to continue to build and that’s going to help us this season.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Had Ange not taken Maddison and Son off and gone for the jugular in the final 10 minutes, we could have potentially come away with all three points as Arsenal’s heads had clearly dropped and their players seemed to run out of steam after the 60th minute.
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