Arsenal icon Henry stunned by Defoe’s bold Tottenham Prem top four prediction – ‘what did you say?’
Arsenal icon Thierry Henry was taken aback by the Premier League top-four prediction made by former Tottenham Hotspur striker Jermain Defoe.
The Gunners had a chance to move back to the top of the Premier League on Thursday night but they slipped to a 2-0 home defeat against West Ham.
Arsenal had 30 shots and 75% possession but they were remarkably wasteful with their chances as they suffered a disappointing defeat.
Mikel Arteta‘s side are now points adrift of table-toppers Liverpool, who beat Burnley 2-0 on Boxing Day.
While Manchester United beat Aston Villa, Man City won their first game since returning from the Club World Cup as they battled back from behind to defeat Everton 3-1 at Goodison Park.
Tottenham had the chance to re-enter the top-four on Thursday night but they were on the end of a hammering at Brighton. Ange Postecoglou’s side scored two late goals in their 4-2 defeat to make the scoreline look a tad nicer after finding themselves 4-0 down after 75 minutes.
Spurs’ loss to Brighton did not deter Defoe from making a bold top-four prediction, though.
“Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham then Arsenal,” Defoe said on Amazon Prime following Arsenal’s defeat to West Ham on Thursday night.
In response, Henry said: “What! What did you say? Tottenham.”
Also caught off guard by Defoe’s picks, presenter Gabby Logan added: “Was that your head or your heart speaking?”
Henry was later asked for his prediction, but he refused to answer: “I won’t answer. Call me whatever you want. I always give my answer after the festive period.
‘”Talk to me in and around February. You can’t call [the league] before that. You’ll be guessing. I don’t like to guess.”
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Speaking after Arsenal’s loss to West Ham, Arteta admitted that David Moyes’ side were “better” than his team “in both boxes”.
“I congratulate West Ham and praise my players. That’s what I can tell you,” Arteta told reporters.
“This is football. When you look at how much we generated in the game, to see the result is very disappointing. But they were better than us in both boxes. They had two shots, with the penalty three. We had 30.
“If we don’t score with 30 shots, then we have to do 50 or 60 to try to score. That’s the only thing. I can’t imagine a game where we have more touches in the box, more dominance and less situations for the opponent against a really good West Ham side. Today though, it wasn’t enough to win the game.”