The North London Derby is always an interesting spectacle for fans and neutrals alike, and this time was no different. Arsenal and Tottenham are in similar form, both won their last game by a large margin, and had a number of player’s in-form. Most notably for both sides, Harry Kane and Alexis Sanchez. But Arsenal’s prolific Chilean suffered a minor injury that saw him narrowly miss a place in Wenger’s squad. And with Oxlade Chamberlin also suffering an injury, Arsenal needed big performances from the likes of Ozil and Carzola.
This was exactly the case, as Ozil contorted his body in order to score a fantastic effort from a deflected Giroud shot, putting Tottenham on the back foot immediately. However, the Tottenham fans weren’t silenced. And instead of booing and jeering every backwards pass and loss of possession, the Spurs fans roared with support, and gave their team time to find their feet in the game. The Spurs players responded to the support excellently, and Arsenal spent the rest of the first half on the back foot. Notable performances from Mason, Rose, and Kane allowed Tottenham to puts bags of pressure on Arsenal for the rest of the half, and come half time a confident Tottenham were running rampant at The Lane. But, although Spurs were playing well, they had no goals to show for it,
The second half was no different, and after a few minutes, Tottenham found themselves in top gear once again. But they still trailed 1-0 to the gunners, and Tottenham needed Kane to do what he does best. Dembele’s movement and Lamela’s flair allowed Eriksen to ping in passes, and it wasn’t long before Lamela was allowed to take a corner that would trouble Ospina, who had his confidence knocked by Spur’s barrage in the first half. The goalkeeper deflected the corner into the path of Harry Kane, who slotted away Spur’s first of the afternoon in true poacher fashion.
Arsenal’s introduction of the experienced Tomas Rosicky allowed them to get a short foothold in the game, but Lloris, Dier and Vertonghen made sure Spurs were in safe hands. Chadli and Walcott’s introductions towards the last fifteen minutes injected more pace into this fiery match. But Chadli made more of an impact on the left-hand side, where Nabil Bentaleb found himself in room to make a fantastic cross that Kane headed in superbly, leaving Ospina once again dumbfounded.
Source: tottenhamhotspur.com
Arsenal couldn’t find their way back after that, and a nervous ten minutes for Tottenham fans ended in ecstasy, as Mauricio Pochettino found victory in a north-London derby in just two attempts. There were no stand-out performances from Tottenham, bar Harry Kane, as every player performed exceptionally to claw back a victory from arsenal, who already showed their defensive solidity against Man City. A glorious triumph in a difficult fixture, Spurs find themselves up against Brendan Rodger’s Liverpool next week, another promising game between two teams vying for the top four.
Tottenham fans can savour their victory for now though, as they find themselves edging closer and closer to the top four, and ahead of their bitter rivals Arsenal.
Matt Healing
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