EPL News: Tottenham beat Arsenal 3-2 to end a 17 year old sequence
Tottenham Hotspurs and Arsenal kicked off a busy weekend of English football with what was expected to be a feisty encounter at Emirates Stadium in London.
Arsenal had their eyes on the summit of the Premier League as a win would have propelled them to the top although it could have been temporary as Chelsea were yet to have their say on the matter with a game against Birmingham starting
a little later.
Both the teams went into the match with their injury worries well documented, Diaby, Almunia, Ramsey, Frimpong and Vermalen were all out injured for the hosts while for the visitors Dawson, Huddlestone, Keane, Dos Santos, King, Woodgate
and O'Hara were set to miss the game.
Aaron Lennon and Jermaine Defoe passed late fitness tests to make it to the squad and while Lennon started Defoe had to be content with a place on the bench.
Harry Redknapp went for an attacking 4-3-3 formation which was bold on the part of the manager considering Spurs had not won a game away to Arsenal since May of 1993.
Hutton, Gallas, Kaboul and Assou-Ekotto started as the back four for the visitors while Lennon, Jenas and Modirc started in the midfield with Van Der Vaart, Pavlyuchenko and Bale took the attacking responsibilities.
For Arsenal Fabianski started between the sticks in the absence of Almunia and Sagna, Squillaci, Koscielny and Clichy were given the defensive responsibilities while Song, Denilson and Nasir played in a three man midfield and Fabregas,
Chamakh and Arshavin started in a three-pronged attack.
The game started with Arsenal playing an inspirational form giving Spurs no space on the pitch and taking a 2-0 lead inside 30 minutes.
Samir Nasri, who has been Arsenal’s player of the season so far got the game running in the first half with a goal as early as the 9thminute.
Cesc Fabregas, from inside his own half picked up Nasri’s clever run beating the offside trap and the Frenchman after rounding off the keeper easily finished from an impossibly acute angle when it looked beyond him.
Chamakh then made it two-nil before half an hour mark when Spurs’s awry play left Fabregas in acres of space in the midfield and the Spaniard picked up Arshavin on the left hand side of the pitch and the Russian squared the ball to
Chamakh, who finished with aplomb.
The game looked beyond Spurs at that time as Arsenal tightened their grip on the game but could not find the back of the net again in the game to put the tie to bed and secure their passage to the top.
Harry Redknapp brought on Jermain Defoe at half time and his half time talk looked to have breathed a new life into his team and Spurs were back in the game within no time.
Bale reduced the arrears just 4 minutes after the restart when some gritty play by Defoe held the Arsenal midfield occupied and left Vander Vaart free on the edge of the box and the Dutchman played a first time pass to Bale and the
Welshman did not disappoint finishing with a clinical strike.
Van Der Vaart then scored a goal of his own from the spot when Fabregas was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box, and rightfully so from a Van Der Vaart free kick and the Dutchman put the ball into the net with remarkable to
ease to restore the parity.
Arsenal who started the game so brightly were now looking edgy as Spurs got their grip on the game. Squillaci did put the ball into the back of the net but he and Fabregas were both offside and the goal was rightfully disallowed.
The game picked up pace in the last 15 minutes with Arsenal trying to throw everything but the kitchen sink at their opponents bringing on Walcott and Rocisky for Nasri and Arshavin but it was Harry’s men who showed greater intent and
went from 2-0 down to 3-2 up in the 86th minute when Younus Kaboul back-headed the ball past Fabianski from a looping Van Der Vaart free kick to leave Arsenal fans gob-smacked and Wenger incandescent on the touchline.
Arsenal tried to get the game back on level terms as 5 minutes of stoppage time were added but failed to do so as Spurs ended the unwanted sequence of not winning away from home against Arsenal and the big four of the Premier League.
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