Saturday 20 November 2010

A game of two halves



Spurs triumphed in the North London derby this afternoon in an incredible game that may well be the start of a shift in power between Spurs and Arsenal. This was Arsenal’s third defeat at home in 5 games and that just simply is not good enough if you are to be title contenders.

Arsenal were far more positive than Spurs in the opening stages and they scored after 10mins when the impressive Nasri bundled the ball over the line after a mistake from Gomes. The game then seemed over when Arshavin played in Chamakh for a 2nd. Tottenham were slow to the ball and positionally poor in the 1st half although Arsenal’s dominance was not entirely reflected in the score line.

At half-time Redknapp brought on Defoe and told Jenas to sit in front of the back 4 and protect the defence. They pulled one back through Bale and suddenly the game had been turned on its head; Arsenal looked shell shocked and their defence could not stand up to the onslaught.

At the back William Gallas who was booed throughout was fantastic at the back. They were playing as a team finally and the 2nd came shortly afterwards when Fabregas foolishly put his arm up at a free kick. Van der Vaart casually stroked the ball into the net from the resulting penalty and there was only one team that was going to win from there.

With 5 minutes to go Van der Vaart turned provider and Kaboul glanced in a header at the far post. This win is massive for Spurs; they must now go and build on this and cement their place in the top 4.

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