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Antonio Conte slams Mikel Arteta after Arsenal boss’ angry post-match interview goes viral

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte slams Mikel Arteta after the Arsenal boss’ angry post-match interview on Thursday night goes viral.

The main talking point was over the Gunners trailing to Harry Kane’s first-half penalty after Rob Holding prevented Heung-Min Son from racing in behind with a shoulder barge and saw red for a second bookable offence.

Referee Paul Tierney and VAR had earlier ignored an apparent elbow from Son on Holding, though was quick to hand the Gunners centre-back a red, a decision which left Arteta raging.

“If I say what I think I am suspended for six months,” Arteta told Sky Sports. “I don’t know how to lie so I prefer not to say what I think. I cannot say what I think.

“I want the referees to come in front of the camera and explain his decisions. It’s a shame because such a beautiful game was destroyed today.

“I am not unhappy with my players. I am proud of my players. The decision was made. We can’t change it. The referee has to make a decision in football.”

“Our focus is Newcastle,” Arteta added. “This game is history. This is gone. It went out of our hands and we have to accept it. Now we need to be the team that you saw from the beginning.

“When you lose a football match in the conditions, we lost them it’s painful. But we have a huge match on Monday so we will try to beat them. We have two games to play each. It’s in our hands and now we have to do our jobs. We showed from the beginning in this game.”

Antonio Conte hit back: “[Arteta] is a really good coach, he can become an important coach in the future. But in six months I have listened to him complain a lot.

“He’s just started in his job, and I have listened to him complain a lot. I think he has to be focused more on his team, and not complaining. I think he has to be calmer, and try to continue to work because he is very good. But a coach complaining a lot is not good.

“The red card for me was clear. Don’t forget against Liverpool, I said nothing about what happened with Fabinho. If we want to complain, we have the possibility every game to speak about the referee, decisions, postponed games.

“If you remember, he complained about the [postponed] fixture. At the time I said it was not good to complain, because Arsenal were happy to postpone the game in an incredible way for Covid positives, and they only had one player with Covid. I did not forget this.”

He added: “I think for sure [the postponement was a motivation]. It wasn’t a good situation, we were ready to play at that time and to see it postponed in that way made us a bit angry. But we know this is the past, the present is different.

“I have said before I would like to play against Arsenal with all the players available. I think my players were a bit angry for the first game too, because we lost 3-1. It was an important target tonight.”

Harry Kane’s double and Heung-Min Son’s 21st of the season see Tottenham inflict a damaging north London derby defeat on 10-man Arsenal with Rob Holding sent off as Spurs cut Arsenal’s lead to a point with two to play in the Premier League.

Player ratings

Tottenham: Lloris (8), Royal (7), Sanchez (7), Dier (7), Davies (8), Hojbjerg (7), Bentancur (7), Sessegnon (7), Kulusevski (7), Son (8), Kane (9).

Subs: Bergwijn (6), Moura (6), Rodon (n/a).

Arsenal: Ramsdale (6), Tomiyasu (5), Holding (2), Gabriel (5), Cedric (4), Xhaka (5), Elneny (6), Saka (5), Odegaard (6), Martinelli (5), Nketiah (5).

Subs: Lacazette (5), Smith Rowe (5), Tavares (5).

Man of the Match: Harry Kane.

Gary Neville said on his podcast: “After 1-0, this crowd were all over the place – it was mayhem after the first goal. At that point, Arsenal did wilt. They capitulated in that part of the game.

“Once you create that carnival atmosphere in a ground like this, and I think calling it a hostile and fierce atmosphere is fair, it was testing tonight. I always felt like this would be a special game because of what’s on it, why it was cancelled earlier in the season and then what’s at stake.

“You never want to create a cliff edge but Champions League football or no Champions League football for Arteta and Conte, for Tottenham and Arsenal from an economic point of view is just off the scale. It’s huge and the drop is so big. Then you’ve got the way the game was cancelled earlier in the season… It was all a little bit messy. They should have been made to play it, in my opinion.

“So there was a little bit of needle coming into this game on three fronts… and it being a Thursday night game just adds to it. You don’t ordinally get that, they’ve usually been Sunday afternoon fixtures. It was red hot in here in terms of the atmosphere and it got to Arsenal and those young players. They looked mentally weaker in that period of the game from 10 minutes to 35 minutes, it just got to them. It can happen.

“You’d want Tottenham’s games – Burnley at home and Norwich away. Newcastle away [for Arsenal] on Monday Night Football, that’s going to be really tough, especially if Spurs have won on the Sunday… Everton at home on the last day, if Everton need points, then they’ve got two really tough games.

“I think Tottenham will beat Burnley and Arsenal will have to win their last two matches – but I’m not sure they will. Tonight was a really big blow – I might be wrong and I’m neutral between these two clubs – but I do feel now if I had to put money on it, it would be on Tottenham.”

Fans reacted as Antonio Conte slams Mikel Arteta after the Arsenal boss’ angry post-match interview goes viral…

@Samuelimoru: Imagine Conte that complain most, saying this. EPL is turning to Joke an Italian noise maker is telling Arteta complain a lot.

@SteChucky: He’s literally saying all this but I swear he got booked for moaning and complaining 😂🤦

@StianSward: Man complained for months about the game being postponed, then got a yellow like 20 minutes into the game for complaining to the ref, and now he’s complaining about Arteta’s frustrations over yet another display of poor, unbalanced refereeing

@DrRitzyy: Oh the irony

@SIMON49Arsenal: This guy is such a hypocrite this is the same Antonio Conte that said he was willing to walk away from Tottenham after they lost to Middlesbrough in the FA Cup and said he wasn’t good enough for these players and these players were not consistent enough for him 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

@Igorstepanovs: Nice words from a man banned for 10 months for match fixing

@iamisrael2: He literally got yellow for complaining 😂

@AshleyClarkey8: Same guy who was practically crying a week into the job saying he isn’t the right man to coach this Spurs side and was basically begging to quit?

@OwnerOfPendu: Arteta complains a lot. So that’s a fact

@Nyte2007: Foolish talk, which coach got booked today because of too many complains

@Wardie1983: The same guy who weeks into the job complained he wasn’t the right man for the job. Or the same one thats still complaining about the games postponements months down the line. Or maybe the same one who got booked for complaining on the sidelines today 🙈🤣

@TimBolton01: Can’t stand Arteta or Conte btw. Arteta’s crying after the game last night was pathetic. And as for Conte saying he moans a lot, that’s priceless. Conte has done nothing but cry like a baby and stomp his feet for his entire managerial career.

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