Mikel Arteta will be happy to watch Antonio Conte’s team fight and overtake Brentford with little to play for.
If there had been a more clinical touch in the final third, Thomas Frank’s team would have been out of sight against the unfortunate Spurs, who showed no response to their grim game against Brighton last week.
The Spurs left with a point that was hard to argue was worth it, and with the knowledge that they gave Arsenal the initiative.
Conte knows that this race of the top four will pass, but as if to kill this home, Arsenal increased the tension early on Saturday afternoon with their victory over Manchester United, which means that they moved to pole position.
Now Tottenham had to answer and they would be encouraged when they arrived to find that Brentford did not have a key duo between Christopher Ayer and Christian Norgaard – this was about as good as Spurs’.
The bees may be exhausted, and defender Ethan Pinocchio is also not available, but their trademark energy passes through this team and gives the Spurs a rough start in west London.
Just minutes after the whistle, the visitors were already struggling to send Brian Mbuemo’s shot back into the corner after Brentford won the ball high before Rodrigo Bentancourt deflected a volley from Ivan Tony in the chest to prevent Hugo Loris from being called into action.
Frank’s team – which have beaten Chelsea and West Ham in recent weeks – did not allow the Spurs to calm down and came close to leading again when Toney headed the corner of Christian Eriksen to the crossbar.
The spurs could not control the bee attacker in the final pieces, as – with an identical routine to their first corner – Eriksen dropped another ball to Tony on the far post, as Bentancourt deflected his efforts from behind.
Just as they were against Brighton, Tottenham were slow and still in possession. Brentford is extremely well researched, but Spurs did not offer enough to test this organization.
Although they tried again and again to break the Bees, none of the visiting players stood up and tried to take matters into their own hands and find a way.
The Spurs remained timid, slow and sideways during the turbulent first 45 minutes.
Conte did not make any changes to the break, but sent his players earlier, although there were no signs of moving the half as Brantford continued where they left off.
Lloris had to leave his zone to rattle and stop Tony before Mbuemo sent an effort high over the crossbar.
The careless start of the second half finally breathed some life into the Spurs, although the only product was the trio of blocked shots by Harry Kane, Kulusevsky and Bentancourt.
Kane more often reduced himself to defensive functions, while Eriksen fell a corner after a corner on his former teammates.
Brentford was still struggling to take advantage of his dominance, but the odds kept coming. Lloris made a great block, though.
Spurs fans were happy to see the Dane in the Premier League again, but soon got tired of his sight, as the 30-year-old continued to cause trouble, extracting another low stop from Loris moments after Kane cleared a header on Pontus Janson from the line.
Conte’s response was to send Davinson Sanchez to Ryan Sessegnon, and while the Spurs were able to push, all they could muster was Hyung-min Son’s loose effort in David Raya’s hands.
Brantford had to win it late, as Tony was free to face another set by Eriksen, directing his header into the far post before Mbuemo shot the next shot into the side net.
The only consolation for Frank’s team was that this Tottenham team never seemed to make them pay for missed chances.
Aretha’s afternoon would be sweeter as he relaxed and watched, confident that his team already had two points ahead and could be in an even stronger position when the two meet on May 12.
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