Arsenal 3-0 Tottenham – 02/12/06 – (Barclays Premiership) 4 December, 2006

Could we have asked for anything more?

All the people all my work are Spuds and I was joking about coming in this week singing 3-0 to The Arsenal, it was just a joke and I never thought we’d beat ‘em by that score line. Before the game I was saying I reckon we’ll win 2-1 but I’d happily take an undeserved scrappy draw. I was quite nervous before the game so I just started singing to take my mind off it; a couple of people joined in but the real atmosphere was to be found inside. The fans were excellent and it just shows what we can do if we can be arsed, we should have that special atmosphere for all games not just the derby. Also for long periods of the game we were stood up and very few left before the end. There was some people leaving early though and I was shouting at them, they didn’t hear me but I don’t understand why they were leaving, it was even an early kick off.

Adebayor had a great game and was on fire; hopefully we’ll see more performances like that from him. He first influenced the game on 10 minutes when he picked up the ball and started charging at the Spurs defence. He looked quite dangerous and played a good ball to Fabregas who got the ball stuck under his feet and lost possession, nothing came of the attack but it was promising. However from that Spurs went on the counter attack, a through ball was played out wide to I think Bervatov and Eboue slid in and missed. Eboue didn’t have a good game in my eyes, going forward he was good but defensively he wasn’t great. This was his first error of the game and he allowed the ball to be squared to Malbranque who can hit the ball but this time it went wide. A bit of a nervy moment and it would’ve been a very sloppy goal if we had conceded.

However 10 minutes later it was Spurs who were punished for their poor defending. Kolo Toure picked up the ball pretty much on the centre spot and lofted a clever ball over the Tottenham defence to Adebayor who had times his run to absolute perfection, any quicker and he would’ve been offside. Then he had a one-on-one with Paul Robinson, not the easiest of tasks and I could see it being saved but Emmanuel slotted a cool finish into the right of the goal past the stretched Robinson. A perfect strikers finish, and to celebrate Ade ran over to Henry on the bench who’ll be out for a lengthy time. With Henry sidelined we’ll need Adebayor to be at his best like he was on Saturday and hopefully that goal will inspire him on to more this season. 1-0 to the Arsenal, game on.

We nearly made it two a few minutes later, Fabregas played a through ball to Ljungberg who cut into the box and played a clever ball low across the six yard line. Somehow it was cleared but it could’ve been two goals in quick succession. It showed Arsenal’s desire to go forward and we weren’t settling for just the one goal lead, we were on great form today and we wanted to punish Spurs. On the half-hour mark we were awarded a free kick in a dangerous position on the right hand corner of the box. Van Persie whipped the ball in low and any touch on it would’ve sent it into the back of the net. Once again, somehow it didn’t go in. If we were not 1-0 up at this point we would’ve been going mad at all this close chances not going in and claiming it was going to be another one of those days.

Five minutes before half time Cesc passed to Rosicky who charged into the box but was brought down by Chimbonda and we were given the chance to make it two from the spot. On the replay it looked as if the Spurs defender may have got the ball but do I give a shit? It was Gilberto who put the ball on the spot and after his miss at Old Trafford I’m sure he was dying to stick it in the beck of the net. He sent it low to the bottom left and even though Robinson went the right way it was so far in the corner he couldn’t reach it, it was a well taken penalty which meant we went in two-nil up at half time. You could see how much the penalty meant to the stand-in skipper, the combination of missing one at OT and scoring against Tottenham, he and the Grove went mad.

In the second half I think Tottenham came out the better side. The must’ve got such a bollocking at half time and up to the hour mark it was them with the majority of attacks. There was one with a low ball in which Lehmann spilled resulting in a bit of a goalmouth scramble. Also Jens hit a swerving shot from outside the box which Lehmann blocked but to be fair Jens didn’t have to move much.

Then on the 70th minute we got another penalty. Van Persie was through and running into the box and Jermain Penis had no option but to hack Robin down. He got a yellow card for it and we got the chance to make it 3-0. Gilberto once again put the ball down but this time went for the opposite corner sending the ‘keeper the wrong way and sending The Emirates Stadium into full volume. 3-0 to the Arsenal, good night Tottenham, thanks for visiting.

The rest of the game was spent singing and waving to Spurs fans goodbye, to be honest I can remember what happened in that last 20 minutes, all I know was it had been an amazing game at the Grove and one not to forget. Arsenal 3 Tottenham Hotspur 0, first North London Derby at our new home. We’ve got Porto and Chelsea next and we’ll need performances like this one, more build up to those games in the week. Sorry about the late report, I’m off to go watch highlights on youtube of the game. Oooh look I found a Spanish commentator one hehe, enjoy. Have a good Monday.