The North London derby precedes its hype. Arsenal clashed with Tottenham the bitter rivalry very much present. It was a match which would be hard to rinse from the viewer’s memory. No one would be forgetting this exciting game
any time soon. Arsenal scored two early goals only to find them losing the match 2-3 eventually. This is the first time the Spurs beat Arsenal at home, in 17 years.
The match started off with a little drama as Nasri refused to shake hands with Gallas before the match started.
The Gunners made a sizzling start. Fabregas chipped the ball piercing through the defence and Nasri took a delicate but brilliant touch to dodge Tottenham goalkeeper Gomes. Nasri after beating Gomes squeezed the ball through a
tight angle in the goal. Gomes could have prevented the goal but hesitated to charge and Nasri made it a costly error. This refreshed the Gunner’s confidence and put them in the lead that they eventually gave up.
Gallas, though, charged forwards right up to the edge of the Arsenal box, but was stopped in his tracks by Alex. On the other hand Fabregas charged from the right side of the Spurs’ penalty area but only managed a wide low shot.
The Spur’s hopes of defeating Arsenal got dimmer as they went 2-0 down in the 27th minute. A swift counter-attack saw Chamakh being fed with a well struck cross which he netted with ease. This sight followed a strong
reaction from Wenger, who popped out of his seat and celebrated.
Jermain Defoe was brought in as the second half began. Who knew a certain victory for Arsenal would turn around. The fight back from the Spurs was initiated when a long ball was passed from Defoe to Van Der Vaart who passed it
to speeding Bale as he slotted the ball in the goal.
In the following moments the Spurs won a free kick. Van der Vaart took the free keep but Fabregas, on the top of the wall, lifted his arm deflecting the shot. It was a clumsy foul. The referee had no choice but to pave the way
for a penalty. Van der Vaart made full use of the penalty putting the Spurs on par with Arsenal.
Tottenham capitalized quite well. Wenger responded by sending on Robin van Persie, for Chamakh. An offside denied Arsenal their third goal. Laurent Koscielny made a crucial miss as he misguided a header from close range. Spurs
sent Peter Crouch in place of Roman Pavlyuchenko 15 minutres before the destined end. Walcott and Tomas Rosicky came on for Arshavin and Nasri.
With only four minutes before the referee blew the final whistle, Koscielny fouled Bale near the touchline. Van der Vaart took the free-kick which curled into Arsenal’s penalty area and Kaboul emerged from his markers and hammered
the final nail. Kaboul scored his first goal for Tottenham and a crucial one. In the final minutes Arsenal pressed hard for redemption but the Spurs retained their memorable win.
The derby delivered. Spurs skipper William Galas displayed some fine defending, and Defoe oiled the attacks and turned out to be crucial to the Spurs’ win. Redknapp made some very important tactical changes after the first half.
He switched the formation from 4-5-1 to 4-4-2 and brought in Defoe to trouble the Arsenal defence. The Spurs came back from the dead and only settled with a win over their bitter rivals. Arsenal fumbled a firm platform that they set in the first-half. Nonetheless
it was an exciting derby.
Arsenal is 3rd on the table with Manchester City breathing down their neck. Tottenham Hotspur is 6th with 22 points.
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