Ian Wright loved some of Ben White’s devious behaviour during Arsenal’s north London derby win over Tottenham.
The Arsenal full-back had a hand in two of the Gunners’ goals in their crucial 3-2 victory at their rivals as he was spotted distracting Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario on two separate occasions.
Mikel Arteta‘s side raced into a 3-0 lead in the first-half, as they opened the scoring after Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg headed Bukayo Saka‘s whipped corner into his own net.
Vicario initially appeared powerless to prevent the goal, but replays showed that White had actually tried to unstrap one of the stopper’s gloves seconds before Saka took the corner.
Although the former Brighton man was unable to fully remove the glove, it forced the Spurs man to pull his hand away, and he then tried to keep an eye on his opponent afterwards, clearly unsettled.
One person who enjoyed White’s antics was Arsenal legend Ian Wright, who saw the funny side to the mischievous behaviour.
Speaking on his podcast Wrighty’s House, he laughed whilst hailing the defender: “Ben White’s s***housery there was beautiful. He’s the thinking man’s s***house, that’s the best way I can put it.
“The way Vicario got upset was just f*****g brilliant, because he absolutely went straight to ten and all he did was try to un-velcro his gloves.
“Vicario was so f*****g angry!”
And White’s use of the dark arts did not stop there, as he targeted Vicario again in the build to Arsenal’s third goal.
He backed into the goalkeeper to prevent him from coming to claim another of Arsenal’s dangerous corners, which allowed Kai Havertz to head home from close range.
The Emirates Stadium outfit endured a nervy final few minutes after Spurs fought back with goals from Cristian Romero and Heung-min Son in the second half, but held on to remain at the top of the league.
And Ben White was not the only player whose actions delighted Wright during the win.
The Gunners’ second-highest goalscorer ever also raved about Bukayo Saka, who cupped his ears at the Tottenham fans while celebrating his team’s opening goal, having been targeted by the home supporters just moments before.
They chanted, ‘You let your country down’ at the winger, referring to his penalty miss for England in their Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy, but Saka later got further revenge when he scored in the 27th minute.
The 185-goal ex-Gunner said happily: “Do you know what I loved about Saka today, which I haven’t seen him do before?”
“The Tottenham fans, when he’s taking the corner for the first goal, were singing, ‘you let your country down’.
“And then the corner went in. When we scored he turned around to them and cupped his ears.
“That’s what I want to see now. Levels.”
The Arsenal legend will be hoping that his side use some more devious techniques to win their remaining games, as they continue their bid for a first Premier League title in twenty years.