Can I Say That I’m Not Surprised?

By: travis | February 9th, 2009

Another nerve-wrenching experience yesterday with the end result a familiar sight. Heck, after the plethora of misfortunes that Arsenal suffered at White Hart Lane, we can count our lucky stars that a draw was the end result.

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.