Arsenal 1-1 Tottenham – 09/01/08 – (Carling Cup) 10 January, 2008

It wasn’t the best performance by our kids last night. In fact, I might go as far to say it was the worst performance this season. However, Tottenham were playing very well. Yet they still couldn’t beat us, hilarious. I’ve never seen us lose to the scum and for a moment I thought that last night might be the night but we kept at it and scored the equalizer.

I bet the traveling fans will be feeling very hard done by but we were on top for a lot of the game and maybe a draw was fair. It does set it up nicely for the away leg though.

It was pretty much the team was as I expected except van Persie started ahead of the rested Eduardo and Diarra wasn’t in the squad so Gilberto started in the middle; Lassana surely must be leaving now, the only other explanation is what Gunnerblog said and that it might be a sort of punishment to him.

We started quite well, it was a little cagey but we were having all the attacks. Paul Robinson was dropped for Radek Cerny and he made a good save to deny Bendtner’s close range header from RVP’s cross early on.

However it was Spurs that opened the scoring. In the 37th minute Berbatov found Keane (which he’d done on a couple of occasions prior to the goal) who went through who squared it to Jenas who tapped it in. There were shouts for offside, I really don’t know if it was or not. They executed the move as if Senderos and Djourou weren’t even there, it was poor defending.

Spurs were having a decent spell, so we did well to keep the score at 1-0 before half time. It wasn’t great but I still had belief that we’d score in the second half; it always happens, they score first, fuck up then we usually go on to win.

At half time Djourou was taken off for Sagna, he wasn’t having a good comeback but after the game Arsene said his substitution was due to him picking up a muscle problem. Robin van Persie was also replaced at the break and would you fucking believe it he’s got another injury. Initially it sounded not great but today Wenger said it’s not major but he has got man flu. His fitness situation is getting ridiculous but at least he’s not out for long with this one. Senderos also got injured last night leaving us with just one centre back in Gallas. Justin Hoyte played there last night and Wenger says we have Gilberto and Sagna as options but you have to think it might be wise to bring someone in. I don’t know how bad the Swiss defenders injuries are though.

Tottenham were by far the more confident side. The ‘Carling Cup side’ were showing just why they are not our first 11 and I was getting really worried. Spurs came close on a few occasions to making it 2-0 and that would’ve been disastrous. Defoe (with a ridiculous new hair cut) should’ve scored but thankfully he’s a pile of shit and he missed.

I was beginning to start losing belief. When Traore hit the worst free kick I’ve seen for a long time I thought this might not be a night to remember. However in the 78th minute Walcott answered our prayers and got us that vital, vital equalizer. Theo had a quiet evening but he made a good run and Eduardo played him a good ball to run on to. Lee Young-Pyo managed to get a tackle in on Theo just in front of the ‘keeper but his block managed to deflect of Walcott’s chest/arm and it went into the back of the net.

I didn’t give a fuck how it went in, I went crazy with relief. Theo ran past the Spurs fans with a finger to his lips as they’d just been singing, “You’re just a shit Aaron Lennon.” Theo scored in the final last year but this goal was just as important.

Both sides had some heart-in-the-mouth moments with chances to get a second goal but in the end it finished 1-1. Did we deserve it? I don’t care, in fact if we didn’t it makes it more hilarious. “You’ll never beat The Arsenal!” Echoed around the Grove and how very true it is. Tottenham’s first team, who played some great football, couldn’t manage to beat our reserves who were having a game to forget. Magic.

It’s back to the league now with Birmingham on Saturday, build up to come. Thanks for reading.