5 mistakes Tottenham made against Arsenal

#4 Lack of chemistry in defence

The lack of understanding in the backline was there for everyone to see

Despite having the third best defensive record going into the game, the Tottenham defence looked very shaky against Arsenal.

There seemed to be a lack of understanding between the wingbacks and the outside centre-halves, as there were often gaps left between them and Arsenal exploited them throughout the first half.

Arsenal's key passes against Tottenham (Courtesy: Whoscored.com)

Arsenal were constantly bombing through balls in between the centre-backs and the wingbacks, and successfully doing so allowed them entry into the byline numerous times in the first half.

Arsenal exploited through balls into the byline.

The cutbacks from the byline were the main source of Tottenham's misery and while they dealt with it well-- blocking most of Arsenal's attempts-- they had to concede a lot of set pieces in the process. It was also one these gaps through which Alexandre Lacazette played in Alexis Sanchez for Arsenal's second goal.

Arsenal shots (courtesy: Whoscored.com)

The main cause of this lack of understanding between the Tottenham back-five has to be the constant rotation it's put under. Pochettino always alternates his wingbacks and was forced to change his defensive trio after Toby Alderwerield's injury.

Just like any other defence, if the Tottenham manager fails to go with a constant backline, his defence will find it very hard to gel and understand each other.