Gary Neville believes Antonio Conte managed his first North London Derby perfectly as Tottenham Hotspur beat Arsenal 3-0 on Thursday night.
Two first-half goals for Harry Kane meant that Spurs went into the half-time break in cruise control. They were helped by the fact that Gunners centre-back Rob Holding was sent off in the 33rd minute for a second yellow card offence. Son wrapped things up almost immediately after the restart as Spurs eased to three points. Victory means they now trail their arch-rivals by just one point with two games to go in the race for the top four.
But Neville believes that Tottenham were set up perfectly by Conte. In fact, he even likened the managerial performance to a classic Jose Mourinho-type 'masterclass': "You used to say Mourinho masterclass didn't you," he said on The Gary Neville Podcast after the game.
READ MORE: Why Son Heung-min moment inflamed Rob Holding before red card in Tottenham vs Arsenal
"I think Conte's the type of manager that would've looked at Arteta tonight. Mikel Arteta, I think is right. You don't drop your principles. He's come out of the Pep Guardiola school of 'we play our way', and he's not going to go back to his own box and defend ten outfield players behind the ball and say, 'come on, we're just going to counter-attack on you'. They try and push up the pitch, they try and keep at least a mid-line."
He added: "Conte will ruthlessly go back to the edge of his own box. He very much at the start of the game, and whether it was a tactic, I think it was, was passing slowly along the back and almost going to draw Arsenal out, knowing that would then lead to space.
"So, it was a clever play by Conte. He's a clever manager who knows the game inside-out. He's methodical in his thinking, the patterns of play are there, we've seen them at Chelsea, we've seen them at whichever club he's at, and Arsenal came out in that first five minutes swinging, almost like you're the lightweight vs the middleweight type thing whereby they were quicker, and they were sharper, but then the powerhouse and the power of Tottenham gradually started to come."
Neville continued by explaining that the first goal changed the complexion of the game as Spurs asserted dominance over their north London rivals: "Then the big moment happened. The first goal. The first goal's critical in a game like this. The crowd were magnificent, but that first goal was the big change in the game, and it all fell apart from there for Arsenal."
As Tottenham's remaining games against Burnley (Home) and already relegated Norwich (Away) are that little bit easier than Arsenal's - who have to travel to Newcastle on Monday night before hosting relegation battling Everton on the final day - there's a real belief amongst fans that they can sneak a Champions League space. If they do manage to achieve that goal, Conte would've done a fantastic job in less than an entire season in charge.
