We started with the same side that beat Chelsea. Van Persie wasn’t even in the squad; he’s picked up a small muscle problem, which is very annoying. Wenger said that he was tempted to play him today but didn’t want to risk him and he’ll possibly be out for the rest of the year. Or not, he doesn’t know yet.

At kick off it still hadn’t sunk in that it was the North London derby, usually I’m so exited and nervous about this game but I never really thought about it. We started the game very quickly and Flamini had a shot hit the side netting after two minutes. I thought this was going to be an indication of an exiting, fast paced game to come but oh no.

The first half was not good at all, neither side really playing great football and hardly any decent shots on goal. It was incredibly frustrating; I didn’t know what was going on. I was worried that Spurs could take the lead because with the way we were playing we would’ve found it hard to fight back.

After half an hour we finally had a decent shot. It was Eboue who’d had enough of just passing it about, he side footed the defender and then took a shot. It wasn’t a great effort but it was a relief to see us actually having a go.

5 minutes to go in the first half and I’d had enough, plus I was hungry. But I caught the best chance of the half on the screens inside. Sagna won a corner and Fabregas took it. Toure rose above his marker and met the ball with a decent header towards goal. It wasn’t very far away from Robinson though and it was a fairly comfortable save.

So it was 0-0 at half time and I was not a happy bunny. We were playing crappy football and nothing at all was happening. I knew that Wenger would have something to say in the break though and I was confident we could come out in the second half with a better performance.

And we did. As I was walking down the stairs to my seat Adebayor made it 1-0. It was a great move, so much better than anything we saw in the first half. It was all Fabregas’ work. He picked up the ball around the half way line, played a pass into Rosicky and continued his run. It came to him near the edge of the box and Adebayor was making an overlapping run round the left and Cesc spotted him. He played a cheeky little back heel into Ade’s path and he smartly finished low under Robinson.

It seemed like a different game now once that goal went in. The crowd we making more noise and we were openly havening shots on goal. Our attacks had purpose and you thought we could easily get a second with this momentum.

However the best chance of the game fell to Keane. Lennon with some good work on the right played a short little cross to the pikey and he shot against the bar from three yards out. What a let off, and what a stupid twat for missing from that close. But Spurs’ equaliser wasn’t far away. In the 66th minute Keane made up for that miss with a nice little assist for Berbatov. He was right on the line and played a back heel to Berbatov in the area and he shot high which beat Almunia at a tight angle. It was a good goal to be honest and now we had a game on our hands.

18 minutes from time Tottenham won a penalty. It was from a free kick swung in and the ball was bouncing around in the area. Toure committed a sloppy foul and the ref pointed to the spot. I couldn’t believe it, and I couldn’t watch. As Keane placed the ball on the spot I just looked at the away fans section as cheers went up around me. It was a shit penalty and Almunia went the right way. Get in.

And about two minutes later we scored! At the time of the penalty Bendtner was getting ready on the side. We went down the other end and won a corner. Nicklas came on for Eboue and went straight into the box for Cesc’s corner. Bendtner made a run towards goal losing his marker and rose about 10 feet in the air to head us into the lead. He’d been on the pitch 4 seconds and with his first touch he scored. That has to be some kind of a record. Ashburton Grove erupted and you knew we’d won it now.

You just knew it would happen like this. Spurs always give themselves hope to throw it all away, the stupid cunts. Hitting the bar, missing a penalty. Oh dear, oh dear.

We hung on for the remaining 15 minutes to take the lead and it was a happy birthday for me. There was just time to sing happy birthday to our favourite friends as the away section quickly emptied.

Nicklas and Manuel will be happy with yesterday. You wouldn’t have thought at the beginning of the season that those two would be the heroes of the day at the start of the season, would you? Fabregas was very quiet but he still came away with two assists and some good little moves. Flamini had a big game and Gallas looking strong at the back.

Well we beat Tottenham again, not as easy as thought it might’ve been but we still did it. Top at Christmas, lovely. We’ll play them again in the Carling Cup but next up it’s Portsmouth away on Boxing Day. Thanks for reading.