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Date: Wed 14 April 2010
Teams: Tottenham v Arsenal
Venue: White Hart Lane

Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Campbell, Vermaelen, Clichy, Eboue, Diaby, Denilson, Rosicky, Bendtner, Nasri

Tottenham: Gomes, Assou-Ekotto, Dawson, King, Bale, Kaboul, Huddlestone, Modric, Rose, Pavlyuchenko, Defoe

Match Review:
While the north London derbies always seem to be highly contested matches, this match-up was undoubtedly seen as a must-win game for both sides, with Arsenal looking to keep their title challenge alive and Tottenham looking to keep pace with Manchester City in the race for the final Champions League spot. Both sides would also be keen to put their latest results behind them as well, with Arsenal being knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona and Tottenham being humbled by already relegated Portsmouth during their semi-final match-up at Wembley. Arsenal would likely enter the match-up the more confident of the two sides, with the chance to set a club record of 21 consecutive top-flight matches without defeat against another team, and the return of striker Robin van Persie would also unquestionably provide the side with a big lift. At the other end, there were worries about how the Spurs team would respond after playing 120 minutes on the terrible Wembley pitch and whether they would be able to lift themselves after the disappointment of slipping out (pun intended) of the FA Cup.

Clearly trying to capitalise on the potential fatigue of some of the Tottenham players, Arsenal started very much on the front foot. The Tottenham supporters ferociously booed every Arsenal touch, with the particularly loud taunts directed at Sol Campbell. It was that man, Campbell, who had the first chance of the match after he redirected an Arsenal corner goalwards but Assou-Ekotto was there to chest it off the line. After some back and forth interplay in the middle of the park, Spurs won a corner after about ten minutes. From the in swinging corner, Almunia punched the ball about 30 yards clear before falling to his feet but the ball fell to 19-year old debutant Danny Rose who attempted an audacious volley that screamed past over the awestruck Almunia and into the back of net. Cue absolute jubilation around White Hart Lane and why not; it was a fantastic strike and one worthy of goal of the season.

Arsenal looked shell shocked after that goal and things got much worse moments later when Vermaelen suffered a mysterious injury to his calf and had to be replaced by Silvestre. While Arsenal dominated possession for much of the remainder of the half they failed to ever really test Gomes and the Spurs back four remained resilient. Just before halftime Arsenal had a couple half chances from Rosicky and Clichy but at halftime the score stood at 1-0 thanks to a magically goal from Rose.

After what was sure to have been a stirring halftime talk from Wenger, Arsenal couldn’t have started off much worse than they did. After only a couple of minutes after the restart, Defoe played a beautiful through ball to Bale, who was being played onside by Sagna on the other side of the pitch, and the Welshman coolly slotted his first league goal this year past Almunia. Sensing the season was slipping away Wenger brought on Walcott for Sagna and started warming up van Persie, who was brought on for Denilson shortly after. The introduction of these two clearly changed the dynamic of the match and Arsenal started creating much more going forward. Only a few minutes after coming on, Diaby floated a ball into the box and van Persie chested it down with his back to goal and then turned and unleashed a volley goalwards which would have found the back of the next if not for a spectacular save from Gomes. A few minutes later these two were involved again after a well taken free kick from just outside the box by van Persie curled around the wall and again was stopped by a world class save from Gomes. To complete the hattrick, from the ensuing corner Gomes somehow managed to get a hand to Campbell’s header and deflect it off the bar. After having almost nothing to do for the first quarter of the match, Gomes had somehow made three world class saves within a couple of minutes.

The Arsenal goal which had seemed to have been coming finally did come with five minutes to go as van Persie showed some nice footwork at the top of the box to slide through Walcott on the right who then crossed to Bendtner in the middle who somehow managed to bundle the ball into the back of the net. While it set up a tense final few minutes for Spurs supporters, including another Gomes save from a long range van Persie effort, the final whistle blew and Arsenal supporters and players were left dismayed as White Hart Lane rejoiced.

Player Ratings:
Almunia – 7
With many people questioning all season whether Arsenal should be in the market for a world class keeper in the summer, Almunia would be keen to finish the season on a strong note. The first goal was a wonder strike, and I am not sure there is much Almunia could have done about it. I think it is also difficult to point fingers on the second goal but maybe Almunia could have done something special. He did make a couple of good stops, including one on Modric.

Sagna – 7
Following the defeat against Barcelona, Sagna has been quoted this week about the need for Arsenal to sometimes sacrifice style for results, and I think most Arsenal supporters would agree with that to some extent. Poor positioning by Sagna played Bale onside in the build-up to the second goal.

Vermaelen – 6.5
Arsene Wenger had nothing but praise for the Belgian defender in his pre-match comments talking about both his technical abilities but also his mental and physical toughness that he has demonstrated this season. Unfortunately Wenger’s comments seem to come back to haunt us as the Belgian defender was taken off after about fifteen minutes with a calf injury.

Campbell – 8 (Man of the Match)
The former Spurs defender must have known that he would have been welcomed by a hostile reception this evening. Campbell was immense this evening. He rolled back the clock a few years and provided strength and stability at the back. He was also unlucky not to have scored when his first effort was cleared off the line and his header in the second half was well saved by Gomes.

Clichy – 8
After a bit of a mid-season blip, the Arsenal left back has been back to his best in recent weeks. While Clichy may have been slightly guilty of momentarily losing concentration before the Bale goal, he had a solid performance this evening. He was all over the pitch at both ends and helped to provide options down the left all evening, while generally keeping the Spurs forward men at bay all match at the other end.

Eboue – 7
I don’t think this was one of Eboue’s best matches, although he didn’t do a whole lot wrong either. I am not sure whether he was tired but he failed to make the usual cutting runs that we have expected from him so far this season, which would have been particularly useful this evening as we failed to break down the Spurs defence.

Diaby – 7.5
After a slow start to the season, Diaby has had a very strong second half to the season. I thought Diaby had a fairly good match but like so many of the Arsenal players failed to ever really find that cutting final ball. Diaby still probably needs to get more goals for us if he is to have the impact we require.

Denilson – 7
With Song failing to recover from his knee problem, Denilson was again called upon to bolster the holding midfield position. I think Denilson struggles to find the right balance in the midfield sometimes as he provided the necessary support for the back four but offered little going forward.

Nasri – 7
Nasri has become central to our success with the absence of Cesc. Unfortunately since playing a staring role against Porto, Nasri has failed to have the sort of impact we have needed from him. He showed signs of the creativity we so dearly required but failed to really find that final ball this evening.

Rosicky – 6.5
While Rosicky always shows signs of brilliance, I think he has failed to have the sort of impact on matches that we have to come to expect from him in recent years this season. I thought Rosicky struggled again tonight. It would have been nice to see some leadership from one of our more senior players, and he failed to create much going forward when we needed some creativity without Cesc in the centre of midfield.

Bendtner – 6.5
In the build-up to the match, the big Dane said he was happy to see van Persie back in the side but also hinted that he hoped he could retain his position upfront as he has believes his recent goal tally can be linked to his move from a winger position to a more central striker role. Despite scoring the lone Arsenal goal, I thought Bendtner was poor this evening. He never really troubled the Tottenham defence and was sloppy in possession on too many occasions.

Substitutes:
Silvestre – 6.5
Came on for Vermaelen. I was very nervous when Silvestre came on to replace the injured Vermaelen but in fairness Silvestre didn’t do too much wrong at the back. I would be surprised if we see as many performances from Silvestre next year when Djourou is back and Arsene Wenger is almost sure to strengthen there in the off season.

Walcott – 7.5
Came on for Sagna. As with van Persie, Walcott made a big difference to the side when he came on and stretched the Tottenham back four. He assisted the Bendtner goal, and he does seem to be more direct with his final ball in recent weeks. I think next season will be a big one for Walcott if he really wants to break into this side.

van Persie – 8
Came on for Denilson. Exactly five months after rupturing ankle ligaments in an international friendly, Arsenal welcomed back van Persie to the side. Robin made an instant impact when he came on and showed sharpness and decisiveness in front of goal. Could have had a couple goals if not for fantastic Gomes saves. You have to wonder where Arsenal would be in the table if they had had their prolific striker for the whole season?

Supporter’s Review:
When the fixture list comes out each year, you can be certain that all Gooner and Spurs supporters look for the north London derby matches first. There is always a great deal of hostility between the supporters in these matches and the atmosphere can be extremely tense, particularly with so much at stake this year. The Arsenal supporters were in strong voice early on as Arsenal controlled much of the early play but you could see they were as shocked as all the Arsenal players after the early wonder goal. Once Tottenham scored the second you could sense that the Arsenal supporters were finally starting to lose their belief that they could still make a push for the title this season. It is almost certainly a fifth consecutive season without silverware, and you know that the Arsenal supporters are finding it increasingly difficult to take with each season that passes.

Manager’s Review:
Arsene Wenger stated before the match that he thought that Arsenal would need to take full points from their remaining fixtures if they wanted a chance at lifting the Premier League trophy at the end of the season. Arsenal has had a challenging season in terms of injuries but Arsene knew that there was no time to feel sorry for themselves and that nothing but three points but do against Arsenal’s biggest rivals. While Arsene refused to give him hope, he did recognise that the loss meant it was very unlikely that Arsenal would again fail to get silverware this season. “It will be difficult, yes, now of course. We’ll continue to fight but it makes it very difficult. As long as it’s not mathematically impossible it is not impossible. Our job is to fight and we will do that. But even if they drop points we are far (behind).”

Wenger’s first substitution was forced due to the Vermaelen injury. His next two substitutes were in attempt to try and get back into the match when Walcott and van Persie came on. Both of these substitutions had an instant impact on the match and left Arsenal supporters wondering whether the result would have been different if they had been on all match.

Conclusion/Final Thoughts:
There have been some thrilling matches in recent years between Arsenal and Tottenham, but thankfully for Arsenal supporters the only loss in the last decade to Spurs was in the Carling Cup. I think I had three major thoughts following the final whistle, and I think they are all connected in some manner:

1) Why do we seem to suffer so many injuries each year? While you can put to one side the injuries we have suffered due to bad tackles (Diaby, Eduardo and Ramsey), I think there needs to be serious questions asked about why we seem to suffer so many niggling little injuries to so many of our other players. Is it because we sign injury prone players? Is there something wrong with our training methods? Do we need a new physio staff? Or are we just not protected enough by referees?

2) What-if? This has been a real season of what ifs. Chelsea and Manchester United presented us with enough chances to really challenge this season and it looks like we have fallen just short. But what if we hadn’t suffered long-term injuries to Vermaelen, Cesc, Gallas, Clichy, Ramsey, etc.? I also question whether we had the right approach to the Carling Cup and FA Cup this year when it was clear that those were likely our best chance at silverware and would have provided the club and its supporters with a big boast?

3) What’s next? There is no questioning there is a lot of talent in this side and the potential is there but how long will the supporters put up with no trophies. I think this summer may really be the first time that Wenger plays in the transfer market, and he must realise that he can strengthen in a number of positions, even if just to add some depth to counter the injury problems commented about above. While this seems to be said following each trophyless season, next season is going to be very important for this era of Arsenal players and the manager.

Next up is Wigan away and the Arsenal players need to pick themselves up from this match and be ready for that one; at least the pitch at the DW Stadium has been relayed so we don’t need to worry this year about playing on a pitch with more mud than grass!

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