Spurs Preview

By: Martin | October 30th, 2009

Tottenham Hotspur

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.