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| (Courtesy of Andrew3000 - Flickr) |
It was indeed quite worrying for the Gunners in the opening
minutes, with Tottenham taking the game by the scruff of the neck and looking
like they wanted it far more that their North-London counterparts. It was
therefore no surprise that with less than 10 minutes gone Tottenham took the
lead through none other than Emmanuel Adebayor, coming back to haunt his former
team once again. The goal saw possibly one of the worst attempts at springing
the offside trap in recorded history, with Bacary Sagna haring out of defence
with no hope of playing either Jermain Defoe or Gareth Bale offside and Per
Mertesacker woefully out of position. It was Defoe who picked the ball up and
side-footed a shot towards the bottom corner which Wojciech Szcesny could only
palm out to the oncoming Adebayor, who had no trouble putting it into the back
of the net from 5 yards out. Aaron Lennon came within inches of making it 2-0
only minutes later when Spurs’ wingers both pushed up very quickly to give
themselves four attackers which Arsenal just could not handle. It was shortly
after this that Adebayor’s moment of madness occurred. In fairness to him it
genuinely looked like he was going for the ball. In subsequent interviews he
has stated that this is just how he is, passionate and energetic but you’ve got
to know that you cannot go for a tackle like this even if you do make the ball,
as it was he didn’t even manage that. Given the fact that this was Adebayor
against Arsenal there was no way that this wasn’t going to be a red card, not
saying that it didn’t deserve to be but given the situation he has got to be
extra careful, and he wasn’t. What was disappointing was that Jack Wilshere ran
straight to the referee presumably trying to get Adebayor sent off, something
which Crisitano Ronaldo got lambasted for when he did it against Rooney for
England, and Santi Cazorla was lying on the floor as if he had been shot and,
for some reason, clutching his face. Needless to say, minutes later Cazorla was
on the side-line complaining about not being allowed back onto the pitch
quickly enough. Alas this is football today. After this Tottenham had no hope.
It should be worrying for Arsene Wenger that it takes one of his former player’s
getting sent off to spur his team into action but this is exactly what
happened. Arsenal were all over Tottenham and as a result, 7 minutes later,
drew level. Per Mertesacker finally managed to earn some plaudits by powering a
fantastic header past Hugo Loris in the Spurs goal following a great cross from
Walcott and some poor marking. As if seeing Adebayor getting sent off was not
enough Jack Wilshere was charging around the pitch like a dog off its leash,
reminding me of a young Wayne Rooney, this over-enthusiasm (putting it kindly)
is going to have to be curbed or it’ll see him sitting in the stands far more
often that he wants to be. At this point Arsenal let Spurs back into the game a
bit, Gareth Bale showing his natural penchant for running with the ball as,
picking it up 10 yards inside his own half on the left wing, he proceeded to
run 80 yards with it until someone even managed to put in a half tackle. But
once again the man advantage started to show and Giroud, on 40 minutes, missed
an absolute sitter of a header, giving more credence to the theory that he is
not the natural finisher Wenger has been looking for. Gunners fans didn’t have
to wait long for their lead however as only two minutes later Podolski scuffed
a shot which was then deflected past Loris by William Gallas. At 2-1 Tottenham
looked a beaten side, there seemed very little spirit in them and Arsenal even
had time to make it 3-1 before half time, when Giroud slid a left-footed shot
into the Tottenham goal following a superb driving run by Santi Cazorla.
After half time AVB went with three at the back, taking off
both full-backs, Walker and Naughton, and replacing them with Michael Dawson
and Clint Dempsey. This was to no avail however, Tottenham were looking very
tired and dispirited and it started to look a bit easy for the home side. Arsenal
continued to have the lion’s share of possession and 15 minutes after the half
time break Arsenal made it 4. Walcott receiving the ball and giving it to
Podolski who played an easy ball past the stretched Spurs defence to find
Cazorla unmarked at the back post. It was only now, when Tottenham knew that
the game was beyond them, that the away side started to play. Perhaps it was
because Arsenal backed off, and indeed they did start to look a bit complacent,
but you will struggle to keep Gareth Bale at bay when you are on your game
never mind only playing at 75% and it was the Welshman who got one back for
Tottenham. The left winger picked up the ball around 35 yards out, ran towards
the edge of the box and drilled a low, right-footed finish into the bottom left
corner. Gareth Bale had a great chance just minutes later, dragging the ball
past the post when Defoe was free in the middle of the box looking furious. The
game was to be Arsenal’s though and this was sealed on 90 minutes when
Oxlade-Chamberlain ran with purpose through Tottenham and set up Walcott for
his 3rd league goal of the season. As happy as this will make the
Englishman I’m not sure that 5 minutes up front will quite satisfy his desire
to play there and this might yet prove a sticking point in forthcoming contract
talks.
To sum up this was an entertaining enough game to watch, 7
goals is never bad for a neutral, but it could have been so much better had it
not been for Adebayor’s rash nature. Andre Villas Boas will be feeling much the
same, I’m sure, as his side now have only 3 points from the last 5 games and
find themselves sliding further down the table. As for Arsenal this will be a
massive confidence boost but all the old worries are not gone. They were losing
the game when it was 11v11 and as much as Gunners fans will say this could have
changed, going 1-0 down so easily will not have pleased Arsene Wenger. At the end
of the day, though, they won the game and sitting in 6th place 3
points are all that will matter to them right now.
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