Jermaine Pennant on Spurs' title chances, Neto's fine form and Rooney at Birmingham
"I think the goal should just be added. There's no reason for it to be disallowed, it was a correct goal. It doesn't matter what could have happened or what didn't happen, just put in on, 2-2, end of story.
"You can change red cards, yellow cards, drop suspensions, add to the length of suspensions. I don't think anyone would be disappointed or feel hard done by that," Pennant stated on a Zoom call with Tribal Football in regards to the eventful match.
Knowing full well the unlikelihood of this happening, is it suddenly a four-horse race for the title this season with Spurs doing so well and Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool looking strong in Pennant's opinion?
"I don't think Spurs are in for a title race yet. They've had a great start, don't get me wrong, but it's not like they have a whole new squad. It is more or less the same squad that came in eighth last season.
"Only James Maddison and Micky van de Ven are really new additions, whereas they lost a 30+ goal scorer in Harry Kane.
"They have not really strengthened the squad; they have just got a new manager who is more attacking-based. It will only take one bad performance or bad result to unsettle the ship and they will fall back a little bit. But they are contenders for the top four, no doubt."
Speaking of contenders, Pennant believes Arsenal's recent win against Manchester City will have given the Gunners a massive boost for an upcoming title race.
"It was a fantastic result for them to beat Manchester City. Any result against City, no matter how strong they are and what players they are missing, will always be a positive.
"The morale- and confidence boost this will give to the players is massive. You can't get that by beating Liverpool, Spurs or Manchester United.
"Beating Manchester City is a boost on a different level. You suddenly feel unbeatable, and it will provide a lot of confidence when they go to Etihad for the reverse game. Mikel Arteta will be able to say, 'you beat them once, now go out and do it again'."
A player who has caught the eye of many so far this season is Wolves winger Pedro Neto and as a former winger, Pennant likes what he's seeing from the Portuguese starlet.
"Neto has looked fantastic. He's an out-and-out proper old-school winger, like we used to see in my position. He's direct, not scared, when he gets the ball, he wants to run at you, and that's a nightmare for defenders.
"He's quickly becoming a Wolves fan favourite. He was superb against Man City, good against Liverpool and playing well against these teams just shows how good a player, you are," says Pennant who feels confident Neto could be in for a big move.
"Listen, if he continues with these performances, the big teams will come in for you. Don't be surprised if the top four, top six clubs do start sniffing around," Pennant states as Arsenal might look for a backup to Bukayo Saka and Liverpool could consider a move to cover themselves for the eventual loss of Mohamed Salah to the Saudi Pro League.
Speaking of moving, one of Pennant's former clubs moved in for a big name themselves recently causing quite a stir. Birmingham City sacked manager John Eustace to replace him with Wayne Rooney, which came as a surprise to many people, not least Pennant.
"I can understand why the Birmingham fans are a little upset and concerned right now. They had a manager who left Birmingham in the playoffs, and everything seemed to be going well. For them to sack that manager and bring in Rooney is a big risk. There's no guarantee it is going to get better.
"It is not like Rooney has a great record as a manager, so it is certainly an interesting situation. Time will tell if he's going to be successful, but if he isn't, the board and the owner are going to come under a lot of stick because the Birmingham fans are very passionate and it can become a hostile atmosphere," says Pennant who hadn't mapped in Rooney the player as a future manager.
"He seemed too angry and just didn't look the manager-type, but naturally he has got a big personality and is well renowned. I think players will react to that in a positive way because he's done so much on the pitch. But this will be his biggest test so far and could make or break him. We've seen how big a dent in his managerial career it caused Frank Lampard that he took over at Chelsea".
