Tottenham 2-2 Arsenal

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
21 Apr	12:45 PM	P	Tottenham Hotspur (A)	2	2	Draw

Just about the story of the Arsenal season so far. Innumerable chances created, innumerable chances missed, and yet again, one can find Arsenal fans all over scratching their heads as to why the Gunners weren't able to come back with all three points from White Hart Lane, which they thoroughly deserved.

For Arsenal, this can be seen as two blows in a week. First, the announcement of David Dein's expulsion from the Arsenal board, and then, yesterday, a 94th-minute long-distance strike from Jermaine Jenas that earned Tottenham an undeserved draw after they had been dominated by their more glamorous North London rivals for the final hour of this intriguing derby.

The opening goal was somewhat scrappy. Dmitri Berbatov's deft flick took him around Gaël Clichy and he had the pace and strength to run across the incredibly fast, fleet-footed defender and into the penalty area, only for his cross to be deflected by an Arsenal defender.

From the corner there were a few heated moments between the striker and Abou Diaby - with Mad Jens inevitably, and customarily, joining in - leading to a booking for all three by the referee. Jenas retook the corner, Michael Dawson nodded a header on into the turf, the ball bounced up perfectly for Robbie Keane at the far post to nod it home from 3 yards.

But Spurs, instead of taking the game to Arsenal, retreated back into their own half. That was to prove their downfall in the second half. The exquisite young ace, Francesc Fabregas replaced the injured Freddie Ljungberg just before half time. The Spaniard didn't start the match because of a virus. Apparently, it was the home team that caught the cold from then on.

Emmanuel Adebayor, as usual, was a towering presence up front. He pressed defenders with his excellent work-rate, and must definitely have been under pressure to score given his recent goal drought.

Arsenal though, were to get their goals from an unlikely source - set-pieces. Following a period of consistent pressure from the away team, a sweeping Arsenal move saw Tomas Rosicky tripped to the ground when he was on-course to an off-the-ball run.

Fabregas took the resulting free kick and swung it into the Tottenham penalty box where Kolo Touré was there to turn it goalwards. The ball struck the England international goalkeeper, Paul Robinson and ended up in the Tottenham net.

For the second goal, Tom Huddlestone, a second half substitute for the ineffective Aaron Lennon, wrestled Alexander Hleb to the turf on the right side of midfield and again Fabregas' delivery was perfect as Adebayor rose to plant his header beyond Robinson and into the top corner to finally end his goal draught.

The marking, all round, was woeful from Spurs.

An Arsenal win appeared inevitable. Then, deep into stoppage time, with less than 30 seconds to go, substitute Steed Malbranque laid the ball back to Jenas, who struck it low, crisply and from almost 30 yards out to evade Lehmann's grasp and into the bottom corner of the net.

Lucky old Arsenal struck the woodwork three times during the match through Emmanuel Eboue, Kolo Touré and Emmanuel Adebayor. But, it was the wonderful inventiveness and the deft skill of Fabregas that was the telling difference in the match.

Hopes of finishing third have now faded after this draw as Liverpool won their match comfortably thanks to a brace from Dutch striker Dirk Kuyt.

Arsène Wenger would definitely see this match as two points dropped and hope that the team can leave all the turmoils of the past week behind as they look forward to their next match, another London derby against Fulham at the Emirates.

User Comments

Bob

Posted on 24 Apr, 2007 at 03:35 AM - Reply

The name of Spurs's striker is Dimitar. I will not read such a disrespectfull article even though im a gunner.....

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