Theo Walcott disagrees with Paul Merson on Arsenal's north London derby winner

Theo Walcott has disagreed with Paul Merson's take on Arsenal's winner at Tottenham - rejecting suggestions it should've been chalked off.

Gabriel rose highest from a second-half corner to head home the winner for the Gunners, who continued their recent dominance of north London derbies. The win also keeps them within touching distance at the top as they continue to excel from set pieces.

Tottenham, in contrast, have continued to ship goals from corners and free-kicks. Merson though, when analysing the goal, suggested that Arsenal were perhaps lucky not to get the goal chalked off. He pointed out a shove on Cristian Romero, whilst admitting the Argentine should've been stronger.

He said on Sky Sports: "I'd be disappointed if I didn't get a foul. He's in the wrong position, everything is wrong about his defending. He's a centre half international, even I know and I don't even play at the back you got to be side on. You got to see the ball and your player.

READ MORE: Paul Merson admits Gabriel's winner for Arsenal at Tottenham should not have stood

READ MORE: Tottenham star shares social media post slamming club chiefs after Arsenal defeat

"To start off you have to be a hand length away and he's standing with him. I'd expect a foul. I think if a centre forward does that, the referee gives a foul against him. They don't even look at it . He does need to be stronger. It's poor defending but he does get a shove in his back."

There was little appealing from the Tottenham defenders however as Arsenal celebrated in front of their travelling fans. With VAR in operation goals can be harshly analysed, but Walcott suggested Romero wasn't smart enough, suggesting he should've made more of the contact.

He said: "It's a shove, but this is the thing where, if you're smart and savvy as a defender, you make a bit more of a meal out of it and try and go down... to say 'ref, look, there's been a foul here'. But it would have been weak. It was very weak of Bentancur not to be alive in that situation, because Arsenal have worked on this day in and day out and that's the difference when you have someone who works religiously at set pieces".

Ange Postecoglou was left to field questions on Tottenham's poor set piece record, but batted away suggestions he didn't care. The Australian claimed his side were, largely, able to deal with the Arsenal threat, other than their eventual winner.

He said: "I know for some reason people think I don't care about set-pieces, and it's a narrative that you can keep going on for ages and ages. I understand that. Like I said, we work on them all the time, like we do with every other team.

"You know that they're a threat. As I said, for the most part we handled them really well today, but we switched off in one and we paid a price. You learn from that and you move on."

Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.