It was a tale of two goalkeepers at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday evening. At one end of the pitch Hugo Lloris dropped an almighty clanger to give Arsenal the lead in the 14th minute, whereas his counterpart, Aaron Ramsdale, delivered a man-of-the-match display after producing save after save to leave Tottenham incredibly frustrated.
Ramsdale's heroics ensured Arsenal secured a 2-0 win at the home of their fierce rivals, thus boosting their title chances and opening up an eight-point lead over Man City at the summit of the Premier League in the process. Tottenham, on the other hand, are now five points away from Manchester United in fifth having played one game more.
Needing to produce a solid first-half display against the table toppers going on their own slow starts to games this campaign, it was all too easy for Arsenal in the opening 45 minutes as they took a two-goal advantage into the break. The opener came through a Lloris own goal after he failed to keep out Bukayo Saka's cross from the right flank, something which Gary Neville described as "so poor" during commentary.
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It looked a rather simple take for the Spurs man, even after that slightest of touches from Ryan Sessegnon, but he unfortunately ended up fumbling the ball over his own line. It was a complete gift for the visitors, who later doubled their lead nine minutes before the interval following Martin Odegaard's strike from distance.
Having seen Son Heung-min and Harry Kane test Ramsdale in the first half, the England shot-stopper was a lot busier after the break as he denied Tottenham's No.10 and Sessegnon not long after the restart and then Richarlison towards the death. There was simply no way through for Tottenham, who were denied seven times in total by the commanding shot-stopper.
Ramsdale received the Sky Sports man of the match award for his heroics, with Eric Dier crediting the 24-year-old for making key saves after Tottenham had upped the ante in search of a way back into the contest.
"Second half we came out and played really well. We could've easily got back into the game," the centre-back told Sky Sports. "Ramsdale made a lot of good saves and we are just missing that goal. If we get the first then who knows what happens."
Speaking to the media after the game in his post-match press conference, Antonio Conte was pressed on Lloris following his gaffe and the Tottenham boss outlined that mistakes can happen.
"In this situation it's always difficult. I think that it's not positive to be focused on only one situation or two situation," said the Italian. "Football I know is this and sometimes you can do positive and save many situations positively but honestly I consider Hugo one of the best keepers in the world and it can happen.
"It can happen that sometimes you can make a mistake. For sure when there is the mistake of the keeper it is more visible. Hugo for us is a one of the players who is really important for the dressing room, for his personality because we are talking about a player who is one of the best keepers in the world."
It's not the first time Lloris has endured a nightmare in goal for Tottenham this season. The World Cup winner has now made four errors leading to goals in 2022/23, which is in fact more than any other player in the Premier League.
Something which could prove incredibly costly to Tottenham's aspirations come the end of the season, Lloris' clanger coupled with Ramsdale's masterclass should really accelerate Fabio Paratici's plans to find the Frenchman's long-term successor. Turning 36 on Boxing Day, the Nice-born player still has 18 months left to run on the Spurs contract he penned last January but Tottenham need to bring in a replacement sooner rather than later.
Lloris has never really had the competition in N17 to legitimately challenge him for the No.1 shirt at Tottenham and that has maybe worked against him with no competitor pushing him to the max to start for the Lilywhites. Paratici did try to bring in a successor for Lloris during his first transfer window at the club but his deal for Pierluigi Gollini unfortunately failed with the Italian struggling to find his best form in London.
Having some standout games, most notably his showing away at Manchester United in October, the former French international is unfortunately having far too many games to forget and the errors are becoming far too frequent. Serving the club so well since his move from Lyon in 2012, it is now time for Paratici and Spurs to find the goalkeeper's long-term successor this summer.
That is going to be no easy feat but it is something that has to be achieved.
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