10 2GG Monday May 23 2022 | the times
thegame
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RATINGS
Norwich City (3-4-3): T Krul 6 — G Hanley 5,
S Byram 4 (C Zimmermann 36min, 4),
J Sorensen 4 — M Aarons 4, M Normann 3,
P Lees-Melou 4 (L Rupp 71), D Giannoulis 3 —
M Rashica 4, T Pukki 5, K Dowell 4 (T Springett
61, 4). Booked Byram, Normann, Springett.
Tottenham Hotspur (3-4-3) H Lloris 7 —
D Sánchez 7, E Dier 7, B Davies 7 — E Royal 7
(S Bergwijn 73), P-E Hojbjerg 7, R Bentancur 7
(H Winks 73), R Sessegnon 7 — D Kulusevski 9
(L Moura 68, 7), H Kane 7, Son Heung-min 8.
Booked Son.
Referee C Kavanagh.
Attendance 27,022.Norwich Tottenham
5
Kulusevski 16, 64,
Kane 32,
Son Heung-min 70, 75RATINGS
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): A Ramsdale 6 — C Soares 6,
R Holding 6, Gabriel 8, N Tavares 7 — M Elneny 7,
G Xhaka 6 (A S Lokonga 63min, 6) — B Saka 6
(N Pépé 78), M Odegaard 8, G Martinelli 8 —
E Nketiah 7 (A Lacazette 67, 6).
Everton (5-4-1): A Begovic 6 — A Iwobi 5,
M Holgate 6, M Keane 5, J Branthwaite 5,
J Kenny 5 — D Gray 6, T Davies 6 (I Price 77),
A Doucouré 5 (D Van de Beek 37, 6), Dele Alli 5
(A Gordon 67, 6) — D Calvert-Lewin 6.
Booked Davies.
Referee A Marriner.
Attendance 60,201.Everton
Van de Beek 45+3^1After the pain of two defeats that
wrenched a Champions League spot
from their grasp, Arsenal signed off
with a thrashing of Everton.
With the pressure off, Mikel
Arteta’s team played some sparkling,
There was never a danger for
Tottenham Hotspur fans of nausea in
the pit of the stomach or crushing
disappointment. It says everything
about what Antonio Conte has
brought to Spurs that they reached
the Champions League with a flourish
and none of the drama or calamity
that has befallen this club in the past.
His side were professional and clinical
— while Norwich City offered a
generous helping hand on their way
back down to the Championship.
Dejan Kulusevski and Harry Kane
settled any possible nerves with two
goals in the first half and Tottenham
bagged three more after the break.
Son Heung-min scored two of those,
the second of which was a thing of
beauty, curled into the top corner as
he briefly moved clear of Mohamed
Salah on 23 goals in the race for the
Golden Boot. He ended up sharing
the trophy with the Liverpool
forward, who scored late in their win
over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
It is indisputable that Conte
rescued Tottenham’s season, taking
over in November when they were in
ninth place and going nowhere, and
he achieved what he had previously
said would be a “miracle” by finishing
in the top four. “I want to consider
this qualification like a trophy in my
mind, my heart, my head, I know
what we did,” Conte said. “It is one of
Champions League never in
the most important achievements in
my career.”
Time will tell if he stays, and how
he will be allowed to build the team in
his image and style. Conte remained
non-committal when asked to confirm
he was staying beyond the summer,
continuing to try to push the club into
a corner over his demands for a deeper
and better squad to cope with next
season’s extra games and competition
from other clubs, who are expected to
strengthen heavily. He plans to have a
rest this week and meet Daniel Levy,
his chairman, with a clear head.
“I want to celebrate and we’ll have
time to speak with the club
about everything,” he said.
“You have to be calm
before you talk, there is
a lot of emotion in my
mind, my heart now.
We’ll see. I always said
we would speak and
find the best solution.”
Conte being Conte,
he might never be
happy with his lot. But
would he walk away from
taking Tottenham into the
Champions League? Levy will surely
want to compromise over signings as
the alternative could be less palatable,
bearing in mind the trouble he had
finding a head coach last summer.
Reaching the Champions League
for the first time in three seasons is
what Levy had in mind when he
ditched Nuno Espírito Santo. Conte
won 17 and drew five of his 28
matches, taking 56 points from a
possible 84.
This is a world away from the dark
days in February when Spurs
lost back-to-back home
matches against Southampton
and Wolves. Then, Conte
ranted about not fully
appreciating the scale of
what he was walking into,
said it could take a long
time to change the
squad’s mentality and
threatened to leave.
This turnaround should
confirm that Kane will stay
next season, having hinted
that his next step would dependon playing in the top tier of European
competition and the Italian staying in
charge. The England captain has been
without an obvious alternative option
since Manchester City moved for
Erling Haaland. He ended the season
with 17 goals, which is a decent return
since — after the summer
shenanigans and his failure to secure
a move to City — he only scored his
second league goal in December.
Like Kane, Kulusevski recovered
from illness and was involved in an
early chance. The Swede skipped
inside two tackles and squared for
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, whose effort
went over.
Hojbjerg is not much of a
scorer, or provider, but
one of his next touches
was delightful, as he
chipped a through ball
for Rodrigo
Bentancur, who cut
back for Kulusevski to
score. Bentancur then
doubled his tally of
league assists since
joining, capitalising on Tim
Krul’s terrible pass out and
crossing for Kane to stoop to head in.
Norwich’s suggestion that they
could be “party poopers” was
laughable and after another pitiful
display they ended the season with
one win in 16 league matches, losing- There was a moment of anxiety
when Eric Dier passed the ball straight
to Milot Rashica, who fired wide.
Spurs tried to create chances for
the Golden Boot-chasing Son.
Kulusevski rounded Krul and tried to
tee up Son for a tap-in but the shot
was blocked on the line.
Kulusevski made amends with a
stunning, curling finish to make it
3-0. Son was twice denied by Krul
from point-blank range before he
ran clear on goal, after being
released by Lucas Moura, to
slide home. He curled in his
second and was mobbed by
his outfield team-mates.
“It’s incredible to
have this award, I got
really emotional, I
dreamt of it as a child,
literally it is in my
hands,” Son said. “Conte
gives us so many different
things.”
Conte wants assurance on new
signings before he agrees a dealGabriel strokes home Arsenal’s fourthArteta stung by pain of what might have been
irrepressible football, but the miracle
they needed did not materialise, with
Tottenham Hotspur also cruising to
victory at Norwich City.
Still, after two consecutive eighth-
place finishes, perhaps they’d earned
this optimistic coda. With the
youngest squad in the Premier
League, Arsenal exceeded the points
total with which Chelsea finished
fourth last season, and perhaps the
Europa League might even prove a
more fitting arena for the talents of
this evolving team.
But for Arteta, the bright view of
those sunlit uplands was occluded by
a black cloud.
“I’m still in a lot of pain after
Monday,” he said, referring to the
fateful loss against Newcastle United
which ultimately cost Arsenal fourth
place. “What I can guarantee you is
that we have tried to squeeze the
lemon as much as possible, every
single drop. I’m extremely
disappointed today, because we had
generated expectations that we
wanted for this football club, and wecame short. And the feeling of guilt at
not reaching that level is painful.”
In an odd way, it was perhaps the
team on the wrong end of the 5-1
thrashing who went home happier.
Certainly that was true of Everton’s
fans, who celebrated Manchester
City’s title-clinching goal at the
expense of Liverpool deliriously in the
away end. Frank Lampard spoke of
his pride and satisfaction in having
accomplished Everton’s survival
mission. But in the end, they finished
short of the 40-point mark that is
commonly held to represent the
lowest bar of Premier League
roadworthiness and, really, this was a
performance to dispel any illusions
about just how big a task Lampard
has if they are to avoid another
relegation struggle next season.
Arsenal began with real zip and
zing as Everton barely touched the
ball in the opening three minutes.
From a pull-back, Martin Odegaard
had a close-range shot smothered by
Asmir Begovic. In an utterly one-
sided opening stanza, Begovic madeanother good save as an Eddie
Nketiah shot ricocheted to the feet of
Gabriel Martinelli, who was denied
from eight yards. After 20 minutes of
total domination, Arsenal had
completed 148 passes to Everton’s 14.
The opening goal arrived not long
after. Arsenal broke quickly,
Martinelli chested down an aerial ball
and struck a crisp half-volley which
was heading goalwards. Alex Iwobi,
against his former club, leant into the
path of the shot, perhaps hoping to
make contact with his shoulder, but
the ball struck his upper arm and
once Andre Marriner, the referee, had
been advised to check the pitchside
monitor, a penalty was duly awarded.
Martinelli took it himself, and
dispatched it confidently, low to the
right, as Begovic plunged the other
way.
Everton were looking utterly
ineffectual without the emotional
buoyancy of Goodison Park.
Arsenal quickly scored a second,
Martinelli flicking on a corner at the
front post for Nketiah, who madeJAMES GHEERBRANT
GARY JACOB
SALAH AND SON SHARE
GOLDEN BOOTBoth finished with 23 goals - Salah
would have won in the event of a
tie-breaker for most assistsGoals AssistsM Salah
(Liverpool)^1323Son Heung-min
(Spurs)^723C Ronaldo
(Man Utd)3 18H Kane
(Spurs)^917S Mané
(Liverpool)^2169
Harry Kane’s nine goals
on final day of Premier
League seasons is joint-
most with Andrew Cole
and Les FerdinandArsenal
Martinelli 27 (pen), Nketiah 31, Cedric 56, Gabriel 59,
Odegaard 825