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Tottenham's Pochettino: No call on Xhaka's challenge on Kane 'changed everything'

Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino has bemoaned referee Anthony Taylor's failure to punish Granit Xhaka for an early challenge on Harry Kane during Saturday's north London derby.

Xhaka felled Kane with a knee-high sliding tackle from behind shortly before Aaron Ramsey's 16th-minute opener, and the Spurs manager feels action should have been taken.

It follows Pochettino's criticism of Michael Oliver last month, and his spat with Mike Dean at Burnley last weekend, after which he was charged with improper conduct.

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"Sometimes we focus on a few actions, but I think the action that changed the game was after 12 minutes -- the action from Xhaka to Harry Kane that wasn't even a foul," the Argentinian said. "That was the action that afterwards changed everything in the dynamic of the game.

"This season we are so unlucky with decisions that affect us in a negative way, like against Manchester United -- [Paul] Pogba should be sent off, Harry Kane got an injury when it was a clear foul on the edge of the box but no foul.

"We keep on going in many, many, many situations but you know, I hope we get to the end of the season and next season change maybe, and we have more luck in the future.

"It should have been yellow, amber or even red [for Xhaka], but it wasn't even a foul.

"If the foul was for us we could have scored a goal. If it's a yellow card the aggression of the player drops. Amber, well we don't use amber. Red and it's clear you'll have an advantage.

"But please make it an exercise to watch this action and afterwards we can talk about whether [Harry Kane] was offside [for Spurs' penalty], a penalty or not and different decisions, if [Lucas] Torreira should have been sent off in the final minutes.

"If you score in the first second of the game, maybe you win 1-0. It can be decisive, not only the actions at the end, if you are going to win a game."

Having come from behind to level the game at 1-1 against Arsenal, Spurs conceded a late penalty, only for captain Hugo Lloris to deny Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from the spot.

The Frenchman had been partly at fault for both of the goals scored by Chelsea in the midweek defeat at Stamford Bridge, but he made amends at Wembley.

"It wasn't only [him who had] a bad night on Wednesday -- the whole team, not only Hugo," Pochettino said. "You put the finger on Hugo as responsible for the defeat. It was not him, I cannot blame him.

"Hugo is one of the best in the world. He does not need to show that. He cannot prove nothing, but the finger always points at the big players like Hugo, or if Harry misses big chances."

Lloris's penalty save ensured Tottenham maintained their four-point cushion above Arsenal in the top-four fight.

"Was it more than a draw? If you assess the game I think we were better than Arsenal in all the aspects," Pochettino said. "But of course in the way that it finished -- with the penalty missed by Arsenal and the action that we didn't get after, because it was a clear penalty on Harry Kane -- from lose to win, maybe.

"To concede after 15 minutes was tough for us. But of course I'm so happy with the character, the personality and the way that in the end we played.

"It wasn't great, our performance, but it was very good to draw and then maybe deserve to win. After two defeats it was important today to build again our positive ways.

"We have a very difficult game on Tuesday against Borussia Dortmund and arriving in a better condition than we arrived today is going to be key."