Match Review: Sp*rs 0 Arsenal 1 - Premier League 16.03.14

The morning after a North London Derby victory is always immensely sweet. The satisfaction of putting our less illustrious neighbours in their place is one that never dulls, no matter how many times you experience it. However, as satisfying as the aftermath is, the build up and event itself is quite often torturous. There are times when we hit our straps and deliver a proper thrashing to the spuds, but the nature of a derby means that, more often than not, there’s not the slightest element of certainty about them. Sunday’s was no exception and although the victory and bragging rights are ours, it was more than a little dicy at times.

The team news leading up to the game was all pretty gloomy. Ramsey suffered another setback in his recovery, meaning he’ll be sidelined for a few more games, while we already knew Özil would be ruled out for the clash. It meant coming into the game, we were without Ramsey, Özil, Walcott and Wilshere, all of whom would be expected to start under normal circumstances. The one good piece of news for us was that both Gibbs and Monreal had recovered from injuries which meant we were able to start with a natural left back. The team selection issue came down to who would start alongside Arteta and who would make up the attacking three. Wenger went with Chamberlain in the middle and Rosicky, Cazorla and Podolski in front. It paid off instantly.

The game was barely a minute old when Sandro hit his pass straight into Giroud and Chamberlain got hold of the ball. It was immediately evident that a break was on and Sandro attempted to stop Chamberlain in his tracks, but the young midfielder managed to offload to Rosicky in time. Mike Dean, so often the scourge of Arsenal, played the advantage, allowing Rosicky to race down the right, with Chamberlain to his left. Unfortunately, Rosicky’s ball to his teammate was pretty poor, but Chamberlain did brilliantly to keep the move alive and knock the ball back into Rosicky’s path. The Czech more than made up for his poor pass, as he ran onto the ball and absolutely creamed a half volley into the top corner, beyond the flailing Lloris. As derby goals go, it will surely go down as one of the best. The technique, the power and the composure were just world class, I could watch it on a loop forever. I hope that in 10/15 years time, we’ll see Thomas walk out at half time in a home game and he’ll talk about THAT goal.

However, if you thought Tommy’s wonder strike was the start of a blistering Arsenal performance, you’d have been wrong. The goal did not spur us on to control the game, rather we seemed to sit back and attempt to soak up the pressure. Sp*rs pushed up with an almost ridiculously high defensive line and it was almost their downfall. Chamberlain nicked the ball and skipped past a last ditch tackle, which left him in the clear. He raced towards the goal, but with Podolski to his left and only the keeper to beat, he scuffed a horrible attempt at a chip shot miles wide of the target. It’d have been a major blow that would have almost settled the game so early on, but the Englishman lacked the composure Rosicky displayed and squandered the chance.

From then on, it was a case of Tottenham pressing but creating very little. In fact I can’t recall Szczesny having to make an actual save in the first half. For all the Sp*rs possession and their ability to keep Arsenal penned in their own half, it was the Gunners that created the only meaningful chances. Podolski hit the side netting after we broke through the Tottenham high line again, while Chamberlain had one shot deflected behind before another found row Z. Most of Sp*r’s attacking play seemed to come down to pumping up to Adebayor, but nothing came of it.

The second half started in horrible fashion. First Szczesny was clattered coming to collect the ball, nearly resulting in a Sp*rs goal, even though he was clearly fouled. Our keeper then made an absolute mess of another cross, trying to catch it one handed. Szczesny couldn’t hold on and dropped straight to the feet of Bentaleb, who took a couple of touches and looked certain to score, but Koscielny produced a stunning bloke to keep the lead in tact. Bentlaeb should’ve scored, there were plenty of unguarded places to put the ball, but he fluffed his lines and we survived. Szczesny can’t afford to have any moments like that next week, Chelsea will be nowhere near as generous.

From then on, the second half continued in the same vein as the first. Tottenham pressed and had more of the ball but couldn’t create anything. Adebayor headed wide from six yards, although he was very clearly fouling Koscielny. Another clear foul on Koscielny that went unnoticed was in the Tottenham penalty area. We had a freekick from the left hand side and as it was swung in, Vertonghen very clearly hauled our defender to the floor. There was an obvious pull of the shirt and arms around Koscielny pulling him to the floor, but nothing was given, despite Mike Dean having a very clear view of it. Overall, the usually infuriating Dean had a good game, but how he didn’t give a penalty for that is beyond me.

There were only two more moments of note in the game. The first was Per Mertesacker nearly scoring his third goal against Sp*rs, but he saw his effort smartly stopped by Lloris. The second was two minutes from time, when Adebayor found space to shoot from outside the area and Szczesny had to react quickly to both save and hold on to the ball. At the final whistle you could see what it meant to the players and fans, with Szczesny even having the bare faced cheek to take a ‘selfie’ in front of our jubilant fans. Legend.

It was a horrible, tense game to watch and really, I don’t think we played at all well, but our defence has been incredible all season. With a few notable exceptions, our back four has been immense and this victory is certainly one that shows how much we’ve improved since last season. Last season we held a high line and were carved open twice. We lost and were mocked and told our season was over, but we rallied and made the top four again. This time, we’ve frustrated Tottenham and they’ve had no answer to our back four wall. I won’t be as naïve as to claim that Sp*rs are finished in the top four race, but we’ve dealt them a serious blow. Win our game in hand and the gap between us will be 12 points and that really will be it. The challenge for us now lies in the two games that will settle our hopes for the title. Chelsea away on saturday, Man City at home the following week. Lose those two and we will be effectively out of the race. Win both and we take a giant leap towards it. This is where our league campaign is defined.

Stat of the game

Laurent Koscielny completed 24 out of 24 attempted clearances.

Teams

Sp*rs (4-5-1)
Lloris, Naughton, Kaboul, Vertonghen (Y), Rose (Y), Sandro (Y) (Paulinho 68’), Bentaleb, Chadli (Sigurdsson 69’), Eriksen (Soldado 82’ (Y)), Townsend, Adebayor
Subs
Walker, Lennon, Paulinho, Soldado, Sigurdsson, Friedel, Kane

Arsenal (4-2-3-1)
Szczesny, Sagna (Y), Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs (Y), Arteta, Chamberlain (Vermaelen 85’), Rosicky (Flamini 69’ (Y)), Cazorla, Podolski (Monreal 77’), Giroud
Subs
Fabianski, Jenkinson, Vermaelen, Monreal, Flamini, Gnabry, Sanogo

Player Ratings

Szczesny - 6/10 - Nearly handed Sp*rs a goal, but made a good save to go with the selfie
Sagna - 7/10 - Got himself an early booking, but dealt with the adventurous Rose well
Mertesacker - 8/10 - Another mammoth performance from the BFG
Koscielny - 9/10 - Maybe a bit harsh on Per, but Koscielny was the standout, exceptional
Gibbs - 6/10 - Looked shaky at times, maybe he was rushed back a bit quickly
Arteta - 7/10 - Quietly goes about his job, but has been brilliant again this season
Chamberlain - 6/10 - With an end product we’d be looking at an eight, but it was lacking
Rosicky - 8/10 - He loves to beat the Sp*rs, legendary goal from a magnificent player
Cazorla - 6/10 - Struggled as he was forced quite deep into midfield
Podolski - 6/10 - Got in some good positions, but largely ineffective
Giroud - 6/10 - He was completely isolated and doesn’t deserved to be vilified
Subs
Flamini - 7/10 - Did a good solid job and picked up his obligatory yellow card
Monreal - 7/10 - Does a really handy job when asked to double up with Gibbs
Vermaelen - N/A

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