Well that’s another North London Derby in the books.
A golden opportunity for Arsene Wenger’s men to go top of the table, and of course delight the fans with another win against Tottenham. However despite the pre match buzz, it has to be said, from an Arsenal point of view, this was a day that will be easy to forget.
The Gunners came in to today’s game against their North London rivals in fine form, and with the chance to take soul possession of the top spot of the Premier League with a victory. Spurs also came in to the match on a fine run of form, unbeaten in their first ten games of the season in the league.
Pochettino’s side was far from its strongest when Mark Clattenburg got the game underway at the Emirates Stadium. The absence of Alli and Alderweireld, along with the lack of match practice for talisman Harry Kane made for a Spurs side that was very much their for the beating.
The game was one that lacked in clear-cut chances in the early stages, with the main threats being posed at set pieces. The evidence to this became clearer when Kevin Wimmer headed Mesut Ozil’s free kick in to his own net under pressure from Laurent Koscielny and Alexis Sanchez. The goal gave Arsenal a slender lead going in to the break but it would be fair to say that the game was evenly balanced, and neither side looked like running away with it.
As the second half got going the presence of Son in attack for Spurs became more and more apparent. The young forward was causing Arsenal’s back line all sorts of problems and got the away side in to some great attacking positions.There is no doubt that Spurs’ best player on the day was Mousa Dembele. The central midfielder was in a class of his own in the middle of the park, even without Dele Alli, Dembele managed to get Spurs moving up the pitch and in to some very dangerous positions. None more so than his great run that led to him being brought down by Laurent Koscielny just inside the Arsenal box. A soft penalty, but a penalty none the less, and of course Harry Kane stepped up and slotted the spot kick away. It wasn’t the Englishman’s most convincing penalty but it was a goal none the less.
With time running out for Arsenal to get the winner Arsene Wenger decided to bring on all three of his substitutes within a matter of minutes. Giroud, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ramsey, three extremely capable substitutes to bring on at such an important time. However, despite this, Arsenal didn’t seem to push on in the last quarter of the game, there were loose passes, overhit crosses, poorly timed tackles and wasted balls. It seemed like the home side just kept giving Spurs more opportunities to get a winner. Tottenham came extremely close to doing just that when an Eriksen free kick flew over everyone’s head and struck Arsenal’s back post.
As the game came to a close Arsenal really only had one chance of note in which Olivier Giroud managed to get himself in a good position eight yards from goal, but his header was uncharacteristically tame and straight at Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris. Tottenham on the other hand had a wonderful opportunity to win the game, only a majestically timed tackle by Nacho Monreal prevented the away side clinching all three points moments from full-time.
I think it would be fair to say on the reflection of the game that Arsenal did not perform at all how they would have set out to and in fact how they have played over the last month or so. It seemed so far from the wonderful performances against Chelsea and Ludogrets. Spurs however made the absolute most out of a lacklustre Arsenal performance, and with the players they had available, you have to say that they did an absolutely sterling job to get a point today.
