‘I think he has to be focused more on his team and not complaining.’
Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte told Mikel Arteta to ‘stop complaining’ after Spurs beat the Gunners 3-0 in a controversial north London derby.
Harry Kane scored twice in the first half and Son Heung-min bagged in the second period to move Conte’s men just one point behind Arsenal in the battle for the fourth Champions League spot.
The home side were awarded a penalty by referee Paul Tierney for a shove by Cedric Soares on Son for the opening goal, before Arsenal defender Rob Holding was shown a second yellow card after he appeared to push his elbow into the face of Son before the half time break.
After the game, Gunners boss Arteta was so angered by the performance of the referee that he refused to speak about the decision(s).
The Spaniard said: “I can’t do it as I want to be on the touchline on Monday (against Newcastle).
“I can’t lie and if I speak about it I will be suspended so I prefer not to. A beautiful game has been destroyed.”
“If I say what I think I'll be suspended six months.” 👀
Gonna connect the dots here and assume Arteta is not happy with the refereeing in tonight’s North London derby
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) May 12, 2022
Conte responds to Arteta.
However, Spurs boss Conte was quick to fire back at the Arsenal manager, saying: “Mikel Arteta is doing a really good job but I listened to him complain a lot.
“I think he has to be focused more on his team and not complaining.
“The red card for me was clear. If we want to complain we could do it every game.
“This is my advice. If he wants to take my advice it’s up to him. I don’t care. In six months I have listened to him complaining a lot. It’s not good.”
🗣 "I listened to him complain a lot, he has to be focused more on his team and not to complain."
Antonio Conte gives advice to Mikel Arteta to be more calm after a defeat and not blame the referees pic.twitter.com/yygKlues5C
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) May 12, 2022
The Italian also discussed the postponed game in January, which was cancelled after a request from Arsenal.
“They had the game postponed because of covid and they only had one player with covid,” Conte added.
“I haven’t forgotten that. I could complain about playing our next game at 12 o’clock on Sunday when Arsenal play on Monday night. They have more rest.”
Son closes gap on Liverpool’s Salah.
Son’s goal against the Gunners took him within one of Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah in the race for the Premier League golden boot.
With matches against Burnley and Norwich to come, the Spurs man will be confident about catching the Egyptian.
