Kai Havertz vowed to become “the biggest fan of Tottenham ever” after Arsenal’s 1-0 win at Manchester United ensured the Premier League title race will go down to the last day.
Leandro Trossard’s first-half goal earned Arsenal only their second top-flight win at Old Trafford in 17 years and restored their one-point lead over champions Manchester City in the table.
City have a game in hand on Tuesday at Spurs, who can do their north London rivals a huge favour with a draw or win that would put Arsenal’s first title for 20 years within reach.
“We had only one job today and that was winning. Maybe it wasn’t the prettiest one but we defended well,” said Havertz, who set up Trossard’s tap-in.
“We have to win every single game because City are keeping up the pressure, but it’s so nice to be in that race.
“One game to go for us. Everything is possible. I’m going to be the biggest fan of Tottenham ever, so let’s hope for the best.”
Arsenal could have been out of the title race before next Sunday’s final round if they had failed to win and City had built an unassailable lead by beating Tottenham.
Instead, victory over a patched-up United side limping to the end of the campaign saw Mikel Arteta’s team notch their 27th win and 89th goal – both club records in the Premier League era.
“We are really happy to win. The difference was the high stakes,” said Arteta, who also admitted he would be rooting for Spurs in midweek.
“Today we wanted to open that door. We need that result in order to achieve it and on top of that we have to do our job. It’s football, there are always possibilities.”
Arsenal looked nervy at a ground that holds bad memories and their sloppy play almost gifted United an early goal, only for Rasmus Hojlund to slip as he shot.
Instead it was Trossard who scored, arriving late to tuck in Havertz’s cut-back for a fourth goal in five games after makeshift United centre-back Casemiro played the German onside.
The visitors tested home goalkeeper Andre Onana sporadically after the break, but each time he was equal to efforts from Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli and Declan Rice.
United’s goal threat relied on the direct running and trickery of Alejandro Garnacho, and he went closest to equalising with a 77th-minute shot that ruffled the side-netting.
Manager Erik ten Hag said his players could at least face the club’s supporters again, following last week’s 4-0 thrashing at Crystal Palace.
“On Monday we could not face them. But you can see the fans are behind us and fought with us,” he said.
“The fans understand where the club is. We have so many injuries especially in key areas. They understand it but that’s why I think they are behind the team.
“They are with us, we are united and hopefully we can pay them back in the future.”