Nuno’s verdict on Arsenal | OneFootball

He may have just enjoyed his first north London derby success, but Nuno Espirito Santo told us he’s expecting more from the squad as we begin the countdown to the big kick-off next weekend.

Heung-Min Son’s strike on 79 minutes secured a deserved win against Arsenal in The Mind Series as our supporters returned to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday. Sonny had earlier seen a point-blank effort blocked by Bernd Leno and Dele struck the post twice as we dominated the second half. Eric Dier made it a woodwork hat-trick when his free-kick clipped the top of the crossbar late on.

Further plusses saw the return to action of skipper Hugo Lloris, Davinson Sanchez and Giovani Lo Celso as we completed our pre-season programme. Next up, Manchester City at home in our 2021/22 Premier League opener next Sunday (4.30pm).

“It wasn’t an outstanding performance, I wouldn’t say that,” reflected Nuno. “We are in the process of trying to improve. Each day, we get better. Honestly, it’s not yet what we expect and what we have the ambition to be - a good team, a compact team, solid.

“There were good movements and offensive chances, but they have to be finished well. But, very good things, we also played a very good team, our local rivals, and it was a good game, so lots of aspects to take on board.”

Just like at Chelsea in our Mind Series opener, we finished stronger. At Stamford Bridge, we came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2, and were pushing for the win. This time around, we kicked on again after an even first half and finally got our rewards.

Nuno said: “In most games, we’ve finished the game pretty well. That tells us how well the players are preparing themselves. We want to be faster, we want to be stronger, and they are working towards that. It’s a good sign that we finished the matches on top. Credit to the players.”

So now it’s all about City next Sunday. “Now is the moment to start thinking about that,” added Nuno. “We have to recover well and have a good week of training sessions to prepare for the match.”

Nuno on Spurs TV