Arsenal Held In Cruel Twist
Apr 21st, 2007 by 'holic
Well what a game that turned out to be. Arsenal controlled their North London rivals virtually throughout, only to fall behind, take the lead, and surrender a point in a last gasp drama.
Tottenham flattered to deceive early on as Berbatov just failed to take advantage of a slack backward header by Gallas. Despite being at home their plan was clearly to get ten bodies behind the ball and hope to produce something on the break.
That they didn’t go behind to an opportunistic Adebayor strike was only due to an extremely dubious offside flag against the luckless Ljungberg. That they somehow grabbed the lead was largely due to Berbatov winding up Lehmann from a corner.
Yellow cards for the two main protagonists and Diaby were the prelude to Keane losing Clichy to convert the corner at the far post. The Arsenal response was impressive with Eboue, of all people, bursting into the box only to see his shot come back off the post.
The silver lining to an ominous cloud arrived in the shape of Fabregas, summoned from the bench to replace the hamstrung Ljungberg. The visitors took complete control.
Post and bar delayed the inevitable equaliser which duly arrived from the unlikely source of Kolo Toure as Tottenham’s defence went to sleep. Then Adebayor, a tireless worker for the cause, climbed skyward to plant a header beyond Robinson to end his goal drought in spectacular fashion.
I have a confession to make. Certain that we would not keep a clean sheet I had placed a bet on Tottenham to lead at half-time and Arsenal to claim a draw. As the ninety minutes ticked over I was cussing I hadn’t gone the whole hog and gone for the Arsenal win in the second half.
Four minutes of time were added on, and nine seconds after that four minutes had expired Jenas somehow managed to plant one in the corner from the edge of the box. It was cruel, it was wrong, and it summed up Arsenal’s luck on the day. After I had vented my spleen at the previously anonymous little beggar it dawned on me he had just secured a lot of beer vouchers for me at odds of 14-1.
In the cold light of day everybody will take something from the contest. Tottenham somehow have avoided a painful beating in front of their own silent support. Arsenal have the point which pretty much secures Champions League football next season, and I will be as relaxed as a newt for the rest of the weekend on my ill-gotten gains.
Happy St Totteringhams Day people, I’m off to William Hill and the pub next door!
2 Responses to “Arsenal Held In Cruel Twist”
Happy St Totts day Dave. This game in someways was a microcosm of the season. A dubious decision against us, goal conceded at a set piece, a long range hit and hope for the best goal conceded, switching off defensively at the very end of the game and the familiar catalogue of chances spurned. Still at least we have dispelled the notion that we can’t score from set pieces ourselves. Some people will blame Lehmann for the Jenas goal and maybe he was a little late going for it but I rather think it was the midfielder (Cesc was it?) that failed to go with Jenas that should take much of the blame.
Happy St Totteringhams Day Holic dudes!!! Whilst the equaliser was cruel, I’m happy with the result. 2 home wins and 2 away draws against the Spuddies this season has put them back in their place.
Just one thing, how unlucky have we been this season with hit and hopes?? I bet a Spurs fan could count the goals on one foot (the answer would be more than 7 :P)