Thomas Frank looked stunned as he watched his Tottenham side swept aside by local rivals Arsenal on Sunday evening. Spurs were convincingly beaten 4-1, with Richarlison\u2019s spectacular long-range strike serving only as a consolation.<\/p>\n
Several key players showed the manager they cannot be fully trusted in high-pressure matches. Tottenham were already clinging on before Mikel Merino slipped a perfectly timed pass to Leandro Trossard, who had acres of space to fire in the opener. Eberechi Eze struck twice on either side of half-time and later completed his hat-trick. Richarlison\u2019s goal caused brief nerves for Arsenal, but Mikel Arteta\u2019s men fully deserved the win.<\/p>\n
The defeat drops Spurs to eighth in the Premier League, while Arsenal moved six points clear of Chelsea at the top. Seeing their biggest rivals edge closer to a first league title in over twenty years hurt Tottenham fans, but the most painful aspect was the display of four underperforming players. Frank now has major decisions to make ahead of the midweek clash with PSG, particularly regarding those four.<\/p>\n
First is a player who initially appeared to be a clever signing. Joao Palhinha was dominant during his first spell in the Premier League with Fulham, but his return to England has quickly gone downhill. His ability to break up play remains, yet the limitations in his distribution are becoming clear\u2014issues that also troubled him at Bayern Munich. Many supporters criticised his performance at the Emirates, questioning whether he should remain a starter.<\/p>\n
Rodrigo Bentancur, Palhinha\u2019s midfield partner, also came under heavy scrutiny from fans. The pair were overrun by Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi and Eze in midfield. While many teams struggle at Arsenal, the manner in which Tottenham\u2019s midfield collapsed was concerning. Supporters challenged Frank\u2019s decision to persist with a partnership that clearly isn\u2019t functioning.<\/p>\n
Destiny Udogie, rarely a regular under Frank, also endured a difficult evening. Off-field matters may have played a role, but he appeared unsuited to the manager\u2019s system. Once an energetic, overlapping full-back, he now looks far from the dynamic player he was. He struggled significantly against Bukayo Saka and was careless in possession, losing the ball 13 times and increasing the pressure on Spurs. Whether this was simply an off-day or a sign of deeper issues remains unclear.<\/p>\n
Kevin Danso was another talking point when the lineups were announced, with the defender joining first-choice centre-backs Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero. The idea appeared to be added defensive stability and the chance to utilise Danso\u2019s long throws. Instead, it backfired. Danso lost Trossard for the opening goal, and his display was poor enough for Frank to substitute him at half-time. Though he won all three of his duels, he was frequently targeted by Arsenal\u2019s press due to his limited ability on the ball.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thomas Frank looked stunned as he watched his Tottenham side swept aside by local rivals Arsenal on Sunday evening. Spurs were convincingly beaten 4-1, with Richarlison\u2019s spectacular long-range strike serving only as a consolation. Several key players showed the manager they cannot be fully trusted in high-pressure matches. Tottenham were already clinging on before Mikel …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":55200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/mixcollage-23-nov-2025-06-10-pm-5540.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55199"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55203,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55199\/revisions\/55203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/55200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}