For most of the first half, the game was pretty even, even though we were definitely creating more opportunities. Then, in the span of less than a minute, we broke the game wide open. In the 42nd minute, Sagna put a superb ball into the box that Robbie did very, very well to get a foot on and direct it through Gomes’s arms. It happened really fast, but in all honesty, it’s one of those goals that was much more difficult than it appeared–it may not make a lot of highlight reels, but make no mistake, it was a world-class finish by a world-class striker. Then, off the ensuing kick-off, Spurs lost possession and Cesc got the ball in the middle of the field, and then just…well, I don’t even know how to describe it. It was like one of Pele’s goals from “Victory.” He just ran straight through Spurs’ entire defense, got into the box, and put a fine finish past Gomes. All of a sudden it was 2-0 Arsenal, and stayed that way into the half.

In the second half, instead of getting overly tentative and defensive, we kept winning the ball and keeping possession. While we may not have been pushing forward for a goal, we were at least holding the ball and moving the ball forward, which was definitely in contrast to how we’ve been playing while ahead recently. Then, in the 60th minute, we finished the game off with a crazy goal. We had the ball, there was an obvious foul, and almost everybody on both teams stopped playing. The only problem is that the loose ball had gone to Sagna, so the referee called for a continuation. Once Sagna realized what was happening, he put a ball into the box, and it took a deflection directly onto van Persie’s foot, and he put it into the net. It was then 3-0 Arsenal, and we looked comfortable after that.

Beating Spurs is always important for the club. Beating a 4th place club is also always important. But in terms of this match specifically, this was important for a couple of reasons. First, we had just had two successive draws, against West Ham and AZ, and needed a response. It has also been one of Arsenal’s dirty little secrets this season that we have been conceding too many goals–we are currently tied for 8th in goals allowed, behind Manchester City, Aston Villa, Stoke, Birmingham and Fulham. We’ve scored so many goals that this has been overlooked, but in the big games against quality teams, we need to tighten up at the back. But aside from Manchester United and maybe Manchester City, Spurs have more attacking quality than any team we’ve played so far. So keeping a clean sheet makes a big statement. Not only that, but the way we did it–Spurs only got 4 shots on goal, and frankly, very few of them really forced Almunia into making a difficult save. Hopefully our backline can build on this going forward.

Almunia 6.5. Didn’t really have much to do. Looked a little tentative early, but settled in as the game went on. I think he did enough to at least keep his place for next week.

Sagna 8. Two weeks in a row he’s put good balls into the box. Good in defending his space, and two assists on good balls in on both of van Persie’s goals. Great performance.

Clichy 6.5.Solid performance from Clichy today, but does seem to be suffering from a crisis of confidence–several times he jumped into passing lanes to cut out Spurs attacks and start Arsenal counter-attacks. But needs to be a little more decisive in the final third.

Vermaelen 7.5. Concentrated on preventing Spurs from getting anything going on, and did so very effectively. Was charged with marking Crouch, who’s always tough to defend, but did his job very well.

Gallas 7. Had a few sloppy moments, most notably a handball which gave away a free kick just outside the box, but generally very solid.

Song 7.5. Great bounceback performance from Song. Generally good at winning and keeping possession. Arsenal had the majority of possession in the match, and that was down to Song’s performance more than anyone.

Diaby 6. No major mistakes, but pretty ineffective.

Cesc 8.5. Co-Man of the Match. Generally played very well despite squaring off against a very good holding midfielder in Palacios, and scored Arsenal’s goal of the season in netting the second goal with a superb solo effort.

Bendtner 5. Re-injured his groin early and had to be substituted, but looked very, very poor before that. Appears to have taken a step back from last season.

Arshavin 7. Made a few useful runs, and his aggressiveness kept Spurs defenders back a little bit, which may have opened up space for other Arsenal players, but never found a way through to goal himself.

van Persie 8.5. Co-Man of the Match. As I said above, both of those goals, the first one especially, are those kind of goals which look easy but are actually pretty difficult and take a lot of skill and concentration. 7 goals in 10 league games this season.

Eduardo 6. Played decently, but isn’t he supposed to be our “fox in the box?” He blew 2 easy, easy chances, which he should have done better with.

Eboue 6. Decent substitute performance, including a sublime through ball for Eduardo.

Wenger’s Tie 7 Solid. He seems to be sticking with the same tie now for league fixtures.

Ramsey came on very late.

All in all, a first-class performance by us. It looks like Liverpool, Aston Villa, and Sunderland could very well drop points today, so we continue to open up some space at the top of the table. I know it’s still early, but it looks like three horses have broken away from the pack, and we’re one of those horses. Hopefully we can keep it up.

We’ve got AZ on Wednesday, and a win there would basically punch our ticket to the group stages. Then it’s away to Wolves on Saturday, in a game we really should take 3 points from, before the international break.

Also, the Carling Cup draw took place, and we’ll play Manchester City at Eastlands. That’s a pretty tough draw, but will really give our second team a chance to prove themselves against top-quality opposition, including Toure and Adebayor. It sure would be nice to get a win there and make it to the two-leg semifinal, but it might be a tall order.

That’s it–have good weekends.

Arsenal: Starters: Almunia, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy, Diaby, Song, Fabregas, Bendtner, van Persie, Arshavin. Subs: Senderos, Eduardo, Eboue, Nasri, Mannone, Ramsey, Gibbs.

Spurs: Starters: Gomes, Corluka, King, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto, Bentley, Huddleston, Palacios, Jenas, Crouch, Keane. Subs: Woodgate, Dawson, Kranjcar, Hutton, Pavlyuchenko, Bale, Button.

Come on Arsenal.

Position: 4th, 6-1-3 (19 points, +7 goal differential)

Recent Form: LWDWL

Away Form: 3-1-1

Last Meeting: Tottenham 0-Arsenal 0 (2/8/09)

It’s here. The North London derby.

This is a bit of a strange admission, and may result in a loss of credibility, but so be it. But I think it’s hard for us Arsenal fans who are not from England, and specifically not from London, to understand the importance of this match.

This is because it’s rooted not so much in the actual competitions in which the clubs play, but in the fact that the two clubs are so close to one another and compete locally for media attention and the hearts and minds of those that live near the club. After all, if the goal of a football club is to win trophies, then our biggest rivalry should be with the other clubs that are competing to win trophies, right? And that would be Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, and now Manchester City before Tottenham.

But there’s just something much stronger at play here. We all are aware of local rivalries where we live, and that’s probably the best way for someone not from England or London to really understand these derby games. For example, I am, unfortunately, a lifelong New York Mets fan. I now live in New York, and had to witness the Mets’ atrocious season while the Yankees spent their way to glory, their frontrunning fans bragging all the while. The Mets nightmare season continued when the two teams I hate the most as a Met fan, the Yankees and the Phillies, made the World Series. One of these teams will be world champions, and it makes me physicall ill.

But now, which team do I hate the most? Is it the Phillies, our division rivals whom we play 12 times per year and compete with head-to-head for a playoff slot? Not for me. It’s the Yankees, our crosstown rivals. And I suspect most Mets fans probably feel the same way.

Why? Because they’re the smug jerks we have to ride the subway with and work alongside every day, with their sanctimonious nonsense about who is and is not a “true Yankee” and the “Yankee way.” I was coming home late on Wednesday night, and rode the subway with a whole passel of sad Yankees fans, riding the subway back from their p.o.s. $1 billion stadium which is already crumbling after spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars to watch their team lose. And I’m almost ashamed of how happy it made me, riding the subway and looking at their forlorn faces. I think it’s the kind of thing it’s a bit hard to understand if you haven’t spent much time in the NYC area, just as truly understanding the passion of the North London derby is a bit hard to really understand if you haven’t spent much time there. It’s not that we don’t intensely dislike Spurs, but that we can’t truly understand the full extent of the rivalry from afar, because the root of the rivalry itself is grounded not in the matches themselves, but in the local atmosphere and culture.

Okay, enough about baseball. For Spurs, Jermain Defoe, Spurs leading scorer on the season, is out with a suspension (stay classy, Jermain). Aaron Lennon will also likely miss the game with an ankle injury, while Jonathan Woodgate and Ledley King will face late fitness tests to see if they can play. Luka Modric is out with a longterm injury.

For Arsenal, Rosicky, Djourou, Denilson, Walcott, and Fabianski are still out. Nasri looks set to make his first league appearance, although my sense is that he probably won’t start the game, since he’s still trying to build up fitness. That really leaves only two main lineup questions for us–goalkeeper and third forward. Arsene came out and said that he has decided on a goalie, but he’s not going to reveal it until lineups are submitted tomorrow. Fine, Arsene, be that way, but guess what? I’ve got a secret, too, and I’m not going to tell you about it. Hmph.

Second, who will start as the right forward? Bendtner and Eduardo are both healthy, and Wenger has deployed Eboue there on occasion as well. Aside from the goal, Bendtner was apparently pretty bad on Wednesday, and I think it’s really time we start wondering whether Eduardo’s injury hasn’t robbed him of so much pace that he may never be the first-team striker he could have been. Even though it’s not his natural position, then, I’ll guess Eboue gets the call.

Mannone

Sagna-Gallas-Vermaelen-Clichy

Diaby-Song-Fabregas

Eboue-van Persie-Arshavin

This is a rivalry game, and after last season, we have a score to settle. You’ll no doubt remember that in the corresponding fixture last autumn we were up 4-2 in the 89th minute only to fall apart and end up with a 4-4 draw. It was as shocking and demoralizing as just about anything I’ve seen as an Arsenal fan, and must not be repeated. Spurs are off to a good start, currently sitting 4th in the table. At the outset of the season, I did predict them to finish 5th this season, ahead of Manchester City, and I think they really are a very good side.

They’ll miss Defoe, but still have Robbie Keane and Peter Crouch, both of whom have had success against Arsenal in the past. Robbie Keane has been shooting his mouth off all week about how Spurs are better than Arsenal this season. Most players with an ounce of good sense wouldn’t be jabbering about how they were better than any club after they had just lost at home to frakking Stoke City, but that’s Robbie. He always seems to score against us, too, which makes him doubly annoying. I have to admit I wouldn’t be too sad if Vermaelen were to dump him on his ass a few times tomorrow.

Tottenham’s real problem, though, is that they have struggled without Modric. The little Croatian maestro has settled in as one of the Premiership’s most dynamic playmaking midfielders, and was really pulling the strings at Spurs before his injury. Just as Cesc is the “rudder of Arsenal,” Luka was the “rudder of Spurs.” But they’ve really struggled to create chances without him. Just look at a quick breakdown of their 10 fixtures so far:

With Modric: 4 matches, 4-0-0, 12 points, 11 goals scored, 4 conceded

Without Modric: 6 matches, 2-1-3, 7 points, 10 goals scored, 10 conceded

Tom Huddlestone’s a decent young player, but he’s not nearly at Modric’s level yet and isn’t quite capable of bearing the playmaker burden (not unlike Denilson for us last season). Their other option in the center of the field is Jermaine Jenas, who can be quite inconsistent.

They’re a dangerous club capable of really brilliant football on their day, and have more skill than any club outside of the top 4 or Manchester City. They will get forward and attack, and the center backs and especially Alex Song will need to bring their best games tomorrow to stymie Spurs moves forward. While Lennon being out is a help, Spurs are also very dangerous down the flanks, so Sagna and Clichy need to be careful about getting too far forward, because if they can’t get back and cover their positions, Spurs are pretty dangerous when they can bomb it into the box.

For us, I think we’ll be able to get forward and create some chances, but we’ve got to make the most out of them and finish. Poor finishing and a lack of killer instinct have cost us dearly lately (AZ, West Ham), and Spurs are a good enough team to make us pay if we’re wasteful. Spurs may especially be vulnerable if Woodgate and King are both out, as that leaves them with a real lack of quality along the backline.

The key man for Spurs may well be Wilson Palacios, who will be tasked with shielding the backline and cutting out Arsenal attacks. He’ll be looking to keep Cesc quiet all day, which will be difficult on Fabregas’s current form. Palacios shut Arsenal down in the second fixture between the two clubs last season, and was man of the match, but that was a team without Cesc and Arshavin, in a game in which Arsenal played the entire second half with ten men due to Eboue’s stupid, stupid, second yellow card.

Tomorrow needs to be different. Aside from the rivalry implications, it’s an incredibly important fixture. A win would keep us in the top 3, and with Liverpool and Aston Villa both facing very tricky fixtures, could put some distance between us and some of the teams chasing us. On the other hand, a loss could dump us from third to potentially all the way down to 8th, and really strengthen Spurs’ Top 4 candidacy. It’s a crucial match, let’s go out there and get those 3 points.

Come on Arsenal.

The rumor is that Newcastle is asking somewhere in the neighborhood of £12 million, although I would guess the final winning bid is more likely to be around £10 million. Since Mike Ashley is actively shopping the club, Newcastle may be what is known in the real estate world as a “motivated seller,” since if he is sold now Ashley could pocket the money as profit or use it to pay off debt, whereas if the club is sold, the profit would go to the new owners, or the new owners may decide they want to hang onto the young Frenchman.

I think Bassong would be a good fit for us. Frankly, he was far and away Newcastle’s best player last year. Now, that is a bit like saying someone is the world’s tallest midget, the valedictorian of summer school, or the least metrosexual member of the Spanish national team, but still. The fact is that Bassong played very well in a very, very bad situation last year. He’s French-Cameroonian, and I think he would fit in much better at Arsenal, with its French manager, many French players, and many African players, including Cameroonian Alex Song, than he would at Newcastle or even Spurs. Plus, he’d get to play in the Champions League with us, something Spurs can’t offer.

While I’m not quite sure Bassong is worth 8 figures, he was very good last year with Newcastle whenever I saw him play. He’s young (22), tall (6′2), and has already proven he can play in the Premier League. All in all, I think I’d be quite happy if this transfer were to go through.

But whether it goes through or not, this has other important implications. Assuming the Vermaelen deal will go through, the fact that we’re apparently still looking for center backs says to me that either Gallas or Toure, if not both, are gone sometime this summer. It’s simply hard for me to imagine that we’re going to have a squad with Vermaelen, Gallas, Kolo, Bassong, and Djourou (and Silvestre and possibly Hoyte and Senderos). Basically, I think Wenger is looking to add one quality center back to the squad–if just Vermaelen is coming in, I don’t think that necessarily means anyone is leaving the Emirates. But if Vermaelen and someone else is coming in, I think it does.

The question, then, is who that person will be. Gallas and Toure famously don’t get along, so I definitely think one of those players will be leaving. I’d like to think that Toure would stay given his history at the club. He’s our longest serving player, and last link to the Invincibles side that dominated the Premiership. But I think he may be leaving, and I’ll tell you why.

He did turn in a transfer request to Manchester City in January, so we certainly know he’s at least considered leaving the club. More worryingly for me, though, is the recent news concerning Kolo’s brother, Yaya. As you know, Yaya has often been linked with Arsenal through the years. But Yaya’s agent recently came out and said that his client was thinking of leaving Barcelona, but would definitely not be going to Arsenal. It was an odd thing to say. If nothing else, as an agent, you’d think you’d want to keep up the appearance that your client was thinking of going to a big club like Arsenal just to force other teams to bid a little higher and put more money on the table. But one explanation would be that Kolo is unhappy at Arsenal, has expressed his frustration to Yaya, and convinced Yaya that he doesn’t want to play at the Emirates. They have both been mentioned in the same breath as Manchester City, so they could both be showered with Big Daddy Oilbucks money in the near future. Maybe I’m reading too much into it.

As for Gallas, I still think he’s likely to leave. But as each day passes, I think he’s more and more likely to stay. The fact is that after crying on the field in the Birmingham game, criticizing his teammates openly, getting stripped of the captaincy, his inability to get along with Toure, etc., I thought he’d surely be gone. But in the spring, he seemed to buckle down, keep a low profile, and really went about his work. I thought he was our best center back this season. Despite being over 3 years older than Toure, he certainly looked like the younger player this season. If you pair him with a center back who’s a little bigger, more physical, and better in the air, I still think Gallas can play very well at this level. At some point I imagine he’ll move to one of the non-elite Italian clubs or one of the major French clubs, but deep down he probably knows that from here on, he’s only moving on to teams of lesser quality, and he’ll never have as good of a chance to win a major trophy as he will at Arsenal. If he can manage and get along with everyone else, why wouldn’t he want to stay in North London for another season or two? And more importantly, why wouldn’t we want to keep him?

On the other hand, no one really covered themselves in glory at the center back position last year. If we were given the option of selling Toure AND Gallas, using that money plus the money the board had made available for transfers to buy Vermaelen, Bassong, and, say, Hangeland, would you do that? I think I would, so there may be a chance that both Gallas and Toure move elsewhere, and we see an all new center back pair starting next season.

We shall see. Oh, and scary moment in the Spain game yesterday as Cesc got a head wound that was bleeding pretty profusely on the field, but it turned out he was fine after a couple of stitches. Phew.

Prior to kickoff, I was feeling more optimistic in recent weeks, and rightfully so. Eduardo was named on the bench for the first time, as was Arshavin and Adebayor was set to go up against the team that he seemed to consistently get one over. So maybe, just maybe, Arsenal could nip the three points at the Lane.

Soon after kick-off, it all went up in smoke. The match didn’t start off too poorly, and even Eboue was looking lively. He had the ball in the back of the net at one point, but the ref had blown the play dead, leaving Spurs players standing around while Eboue blasted the ball into the back of the net. After the first twenty minutes or so, the game became forgettable. Eboue drew a yellow card because he wouldn’t shut his trap, Adebayor pulled up lame while chasing after the ball, leading to him being replaced by Bendtner. It was only a short time after that when Eboue made a daft, daft kick on Modric to earn his second yellow card. Two decisions that you can hardly argue against, but actions that a player must do better to avoid.

From there the game took a turn from a must-win to a must-draw. The reduction to 10 men meant that there was little to no chance of either Eduardo or Arshavin making a late game appearance. A crying shame, that’s all. Alex Song perhaps scuffed a chance or two to win it in the second half while Bendtner forced Cudicini into a good save, but that was it. A little salt was rubbed in the wound when Clichy came off worse in a collision with Darren Bent that will keep him out of action this week. In the end it took a great save from Almunia to preserve the three points.

It’s time now for an International break in action, so there may or may not be much to talk about for the next few days. Leave your thoughts on Tottenham here.

Eyes must be on Adebayor today. The big striker has struggled for the majority of this season, and it makes me wonder if he should have been sold last summer, simply because it would have been a
chance to sell him while the price was high. The Togonator has hit eight goals in his past eight derbies and will need to step up in order to get a result. Tottenham enters the mass trying to sort themselves out having brought in half their team from 2007 to try and find safety from the drop zone.

The stakes got higher for a top four finish if this article is to be believed:

The News of the World claims that Cesc Fabregas, Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie will hand in transfer requests if Arsenal finish outside the top four this season.

Not sure if I can begin to believe that, or if I should even bother posting it, but I found it interesting. It is not something that I would like to consider or mention, so come on Arsenal, fight back, make the top four. Today could mark the debut of Arshavin and hopefully another win in the Prem.

There’s good news ahead of this weekend: Eboue is available. Ok, that is a statement supposed to be laced with sarcasm, as I don’t know a single supporter who thinks that Eboue brings anything to the table. Sometimes, maybe sometimes, he puts in a solid performance — but usually not. The question that will dominate every Gunners’ supporter this weekend will be the role of Arshavin. It’s hard to see him getting more than a small cameo, although the BBC is reporting he should at least be named in the 18. That’s a good move, but how much can the Russian bring to the table? He hasn’t played in a competitive match since November, and the effects of that will linger. One of my hesitations in buying a player like that is you have to factor in that he won’t be in top shape — unless he is a gym rat — and he will have to adjust to the Premier League. So even if he is a bit of a disappointment from the beginning, the old adage ’six months to fit in’ needs to be kept at the forefront of one’s mind. Bust or not, it’s nice to see reinforcements brought in, and not the old ‘injured players returning are a new signing’ shtick.

In keeping things in line with the all-Arshavin, all the time, the player has wasted no time in stuffing his foot in his mouth with some sexist comments:

“If I had it in my power to introduce a ban on women driving cars and to withdraw all their licences, I would do it without thinking twice.”

“In my opinion a woman and a man are two absolutely different creatures.”

Perhaps if his skills on the pitch are as quick as his wit, we’ll have one heck of a player. By the way, since when is he Andrey, not Andrei? Who decided that all of a sudden? And why do I have this urge to drop a lot of money on an Arshavin jersey? I think it’s the draw of the ‘23′ that is luring me in. Time to go channel my inner Beckham Jordan.

This weekend, it’s Stoke. And while Stoke isn’t the scariest team to go up against, I feel like it could be another trap game. Kind of like Hull City. News ahead of the game is that Gallas will out through injury. I miss Senderos. Why, oh why is he on loan again? To boost the backline? He had his miscues. But in my opnion, Gallas has had plenty more of them than he did.

I don’t think should be a difficult game. But it’s hard to imagine anything being easy for Arsenal at this point. The inability to find any kind of consistency will no doubt come back to bite us in the rear before this season is out. Mark my words. No team will win every game, but conceding two goals in the final few minutes won’t do you any good. At least they got a point. Here’s to three more tomorrow.

With Harry in charge over at Spurs, it will no doubt be a tricky fixture. They got their first win in a long time last weekend over Bolton, and while facing Arsenal is a completely different prospect, they’ll be out looking to spoil whatever they can.

Just for fun, here’s a look at last year’s goal of the season – Adebayor at White Hart Lane.