- Kulusevski and Maddison went down just before Arsenal countered and scored
- Michael Dawson thinks Trossard’s challenge on Kulusevski was due a penalty
- Can Arsenal win a trophy for progress? The Gunners have recovered but there’s the final hurdle – Listen to the It’s All Kicking Off! podcast
Tottenham should have had a penalty moments before Arsenal went a scored their second goal, Michael Dawson believes.
Dejan Kulusevski stumbled and fell after being clipped by Leandro Trossard before James Maddison fell under a challenge from Declan Rice.
Nothing was given and Arsenal counter-attacked viciously, with Bukayo Saka cutting inside past Ben Davies and putting the visitors 2-0 up.
Dawson believes that Kulusevski’s fall should have resulted in a penalty but that the forward was ‘too honest’ trying to stay on his feet.
‘Big shout. Doesn’t see him coming. It’s a penalty for me,’ Dawson, a former Spurs player, told Sky Sports.
‘If he goes down straight away [it would have been a penalty]. I think it’s the fact he takes two or three steps and tries to be honest and stay on his feet, whether he thinks it’s himself who has clipped it, it’s the initial contact from Trossard that instigates that.’
After Kulusevski tumbled, the ball rolled in Maddison’s directed and he went down from a stern Rice challenge, but Dawson doesn’t think that was a foul.
It was a pivotal moment in the first half, which ended with Arsenal 3-0 up away at Spurs for the first time since 1959.
After Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg headed into his own net to give Spurs the lead, Micky van de Ven thought he had found an equaliser but he was ruled offside by VAR.
Saka made it 2-0 with the blistering counter-attack and Kai Havertz gave Arsenal a commanding lead before the break.
