Tottenham wins to climb above Arsenal into 4th place in EPL

AP

11:24 JST, May 16, 2022

LONDON (AP) — Tottenham moved above fierce rival Arsenal into the Champions League qualification positions in the Premier League by beating Burnley 1-0 thanks to Harry Kane’s first-half penalty on Sunday.

Kane converted his spot kick in the eighth minute of stoppage time after a flick by Davinson Sanchez struck the outstretched arm of Burnley striker Ashley Barnes.

It was enough to earn Spurs a hard-fought win — coming less than three days after a victory over Arsenal in the north London derby — to climb into fourth place.

Arsenal is two points behind in fifth place and will look to respond by beating Newcastle away on Monday to stay in control of the race for Champions League qualification. After that, the teams have one game remaining — on the final day of the season when Tottenham plays already-relegated Norwich and Arsenal hosts Everton.

Tottenham struggled to create many clear-cut chances in the face of an ultra-defensive set-up by Burnley, which started the day one place outside the relegation zone — tied for points with third-to-last Leeds.

When Spurs did get through the wall of Burnley defenders, they found goalkeeper Nick Pope in fine form, notably when he stuck out a leg to keep out a shot from Son Heung-min and then batted away another effort from the South Korea forward in his bid for a goal to move alongside Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah as the league’s top scorer.

Barnes came close to scoring for Burnley when his shot from outside the area flew past goalkeeper Hugo Lloris but struck the post in the 62nd minute.