Legendary Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman has backed Hugo Lloris to bounce back from his embarrassing mistake that cost Tottenham the North London derby.
Tottenham fell to a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal on Sunday, the first time Spurs had lost at home in the Premier League to their arch-rivals since 2014.
While Lloris could do little to stop the Gunners’ second goal, a long range strike from captain , the keeper had to take responsibility for the first.
’s powerful shot took a slight deflection off Ryan Sessegnon and went straight to Lloris, but instead of parrying it away, the ball came off the 36-year-old’s chest and into the back of the net.
Everyone in the stadium was left in shock at the howler and while they attempted to battle back in the second-half, Tottenham never looked the same after going behind.
This was Lloris’ third error leading to a goal this season, more than any other Premier League player, and it came amidst increasing calls for Spurs skipper to be replaced following several other high-profile blunders.
However, Seaman has leapt to the defence of his fellow keeper and believes that he responded well to the mistake and improved as the match went on.
‘Let’s not forget, [Lloris] is a World Cup winner, he’s done this all the way through his career where he’s made a couple of mistakes and he carries on as a brilliant goalkeeper,’ the Arsenal legend told BBC Radio 5 Live.
‘Even after the mistake yesterday, which I have to stick up for him a bit, when the ball takes a deflection like that at speed, it makes a difference.
‘Obviously he would have loved to have dealt with it better. Hugo doesn’t crumble. He still produced a lot of good saves.’
Lloris has kept just five clean sheets in 18 games so far this season, far behind statistically the league’s best keeper Nick Pope who currently has 11 in 19 matches for Newcastle.
The former French international will have to be at his best for Tottenhams next game when they travel the league’s highest goalscorers Manchester City on Thursday night.
His manager Antonio Conte also leapt to his defence after the game, saying: ‘In this situation it’s always difficult. I think that it’s not positive to be focused on only one situation or two situation.
‘Football I know is this and sometimes you can do positive and save many situations positively but honestly I consider Hugo one of the best keepers in the world and it can happen.
‘It can happen that sometimes you can make a mistake. For sure when there is the mistake of the keeper it is more visible. Hugo for us is a one of the players who is really important for the dressing room, for his personality because we are talking about a player who is one of the best keepers in the world.’
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