Arsenal missed an opportunity they 'have to take' if they are to win the Premier League title, says Thierry Henry

Former Gunner believes Arsenal needed to beat Tottenham to be real contenders

(Getty Images)

Thierry Henry believes Arsenal missed the sort of opportunity that they "have to take" if they are to win the Premier League title after dropping two points with their 1-1 draw with Tottenham.

Earlier in the day, Manchester City had been held by Aston Villa, meaning victory for the Gunners in the North London derby would have taken them two points clear at the top of the table.

However, a woeful first half display meant that Arsenal's much improved second half performance was only enough to claim a draw.

Henry, Arsenal's all-time leading scorer, thinks that it was the sort of game Arsene Wenger's side must be winning if they are to win their first league title since 2003/04.

"They came out in the second half with enough desire to win it, something that they did not have in the first half," Henry said on Sky Sports.

"I think that Tottenham played better than Arsenal, but ultimately when you know Manchester City have drawn a game and you can get two points ahead of them you have to take that opportunity and today they didn't.

"Yes they didn't play well but you have to manage to win these types of games even when you're not playing well no matter how, no matter what, especially against Tottenham. They were better in the second half but it wasn't enough."

Harry Kane opened the scoring in the first half before substitute Kieran Gibbs levelled late on. Henry's fellow Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness felt it was a different introduction from the bench that helped improve Arsenal's performance.

"The turning point for Arsenal was bringing (Mathieu) Flamini on. All of a sudden he started to put a few challenges in whereas previously the Tottenham midfielders had just bossed the game.

"It wasn't a typical Arsenal performance, they dug deep and got a point.

"And on the back of them losing so badly [5-1 to Bayern Munich] I think it's a really good result for Arsenal given the injuries they have and the way the game panned out and they have dug the point out after that first half which you would not have expected."