And that’s your lot. Cheers for reading - I’m off to get my typing fingers thoroughly massaged.
Meanwhile, Alan Pardew is having a lovely time - his Crystal Palace team have beaten Liverpool at Anfield. Details on that one here.
Well, quite the game. In the end, a good point for Spurs, but if you’d asked them at around the 75 minute mark they would have been flabbergasted. They were absolutely terrific for that long, until Gibbs got the equaliser, and from that point Arsenal looked like the more likely team to win.
Still, an outstanding encounter with some exceptional performances, notably from Dele Alli and Moussa Dembele, plus Kyle Walker was pretty impressive too.
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Full-time: Arsenal 1-1 Tottenham
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
90 mins + 2: Another brief contretemps between Vertonghen and Giroud. Not the most fearsome or dignified of arguments, that one.
90 mins + 1: Change for Spurs, with Josh Onomah on in place of Eriksen. Kane has the ball coming in from the left, cuts in on his right foot but for some reason turns back on his left. The shot is scuffed and goes wide across goal. Three minutes of added time.
90 mins: ...but despite a brief moment of concern, it’s cleared. Frantic end to the game.
89 mins: Frantic end to the game. Arsenal get another free-kick from deep on the right, and their centre-halves advance with purpose...
88 mins: Arsenal attack from the right and Sanchez clips it to Ozil on the left. He crosses back to the right but Sanchez is penalised for kicking Son as they both go for a high kick.
85 mins: Eriksen is doing most of his work in defence now. He clears up to Kane, but he’s tackled by Koscielny and Spurs seem rather more happy to slow things down now.
83 mins: Another great chance for Arsenal, as a cross finds Giroud in the box but his header isn’t quite good enough, and Lloris gets down to save it. How many does he want?
82 mins: Another goal at Anfield...
81 mins: Change for Spurs, and it’s Ryan Mason on for Alli.
80 mins: Tottenham will wonder how on earth they’ve let this slip. At the moment, Arsenal look more likely to win it.
79 mins: Suddenly Arsenal are sniffing blood. Mertesacker hooks one to the far post and Lloris has to scramble it away from Gibbs, and then from the resultant corner it breaks to Giroud who tries to keep his half-volley down, but can’t quite manage it and that’s over the bar.
78 mins: Another change for Arsenal as Mikel Arteta is on for Debuchy. Flamini to right-back, you’d guess.
77 mins: Ozil gets the ball out on the right and swings a delicious cross over to the back stick. Gibbs beats Walker to the ball and forces it home, despite it being straight at Lloris who let it past him. Not an enormous clanger, but the keeper should’ve done better there.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-1 Tottenham (Gibbs 77)
Well, well, well.
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75 mins: And a change for Spurs, as Heung-min Son replaces Lamela, possibly before the Argentinean gets himself sent off.
73 mins: Lamela is lucky to get away with a rather spicy challenge on Debuchy. He’s already been booked, but that time not even a foul is given. Meanwhile, Kieran Gibbs is on for Arsenal, in place of Campbell. He’ll play on the left, with presumably Sanchez going out to the right.
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72 mins: Spurs knock the ball around as if they’re toying with Arsenal now. Eventually they attack with some purpose down the left, they get lucky as an errant Dier pass looking for Alli over the top falls for Kane, but his shot is dragged wide.
70 mins: From said corner, Alderweireld gets up and wins a header around six yards out, but Cech makes a terrific save. Another goal for Spurs is coming here.
69 mins: Another attack from Spurs, and some neat play switches it from right to left where Rose lines up the cross, centres it but Kane is just beaten to it and it goes for a corner.
67 mins: Another corner for Spurs on the left, Eriksen works it short and it reaches Alli on the edge of the box, but he’s dispossessed and Arsenal counter. However, a quite brilliant sliding challenge from Walker stops them from going much beyond the halfway line. Excellence all over the pitch from Spurs.
65 mins: Lamela is through again but a rare bit of good defending from Debuchy stops him and concedes a corner. The corner is worked short, but Kane finds himself offside in the middle.
64 mins: More pressing from Spurs creates another chance. The ball is worked right to Walker, who cuts back to Eriksen. His shot is saved by Cech but only pushed out to Alli, whose shot is skied. Then Kane is slipped in down the right channel, half through on goal but he drags his shot across goal and wide.
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62 mins: Arsenal most certainly back into the game, and have been better in the last ten minutes or so, but they need to take one of these chances. Obviously.
60 mins: Oh my. A corner from the right, it finds Giroud who again loses his marker on the edge of the six-yard box but again the header is poor and goes wide, from the middle of the goal. They should have scored at least one of these chances.
58 mins: Dier is lucky to escape a yellow after a cynical tug on Sanchez. From the resultant free-kick Koscielny heads wide, but he was unmarked there.
57 mins: Cech extremely lucky to get away with dithering outside his own box, as Lamela robs him but they can’t direct the ball back over his head and into the unguarded net.
55 mins: Lamela goes into the book for a late challenge on Coquelin. He really does look like one of the Lost Boys from the film ‘Hook’.
54 mins: Arsenal win a free-kick on the right, Dembele receiving a ticking off for conceding it. Ozil swings it over, Giroud loses his marker and unusually Lloris stays on his line. However, Giroud’s header from about seven yards out flicks the top of the bar and goes over. Arsenal’s clearest chance so far.
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53 mins: This really is relentless stuff from Spurs. They don’t allow Arsenal any room or time, even near their own penalty area. Only a poor cross from Rose lets the home team off the hook that time.
51 mins: Neat work by Kane and Eriksen on the right side of the box, the Dane shoots and it takes a deflection, which takes the ball past Cech but also closer to the goal, but not close enough and it goes wide.
50 mins: Alli and Mertesacker tussle for the ball in the Arsenal area, with the latter falling like an old oak under vague pressure. Alli is then the fouled man as Flamini takes him down in the centre circle.
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48 mins: Good stuff from Campbell, who cuts inside from the right and shoots with his left foot, but Lloris does well to get down to his right and push it away, with a phalanx of attackers and defenders in his way.
47 mins: Kane does brilliantly to win the ball just inside the Arsenal half then muscle out a couple, and is then barrelled over by Debuchy as he starts to run towards goal.
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46 mins: Arsenal start the second half. They can only get better, you’d think, the problem being that they only have Alex Iwobi as an attacking option on the bench.
And it is Cazorla that comes off for Flamini. Wouldn’t be a surprise if it turns out he’s injured - at best he looked knackered.
Word is that Mathieu Flamini is coming on for Arsenal. Presumably for Campbell to take Cazorla out of the firing line a little, or for Cazorla himself.
Meanwhile, Neymar’s been doing work in Spain...
Absolutely terrific from Spurs so far - they haven’t allowed Arsenal a single moment on the ball, pressing from the front and in midfield which has meant Mertesacker and Koscielny (the latter of whom doesn’t look fit) have been in trouble most of then time when in possession. Meanwhile, Cazorla has been very poor, frankly all over the place and without a great deal of help either. Tottenham’s three in midfield are overrunning Arsenal’s two, and this is the sort of game in which their failure to buy another proper central midfielder in the summer has come back to bite them.
Half-time: Arsenal 0-1 Tottenham
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
45 mins: Excellence from Alli again, harassing Cazorla out of the ball before being crowded out. The Spaniard has looked massively off the pace so far.
44 mins: Tottenham work some space on the right, Kane has a chance to cross but instead he shoots from a fairly tight angle, and it’s straight at Cech who saves.
43 mins: Tottenham fully in control here. Although Rose tries a long pass over the top looking for Kane, which drifts harmlessly over everyone’s heads and Cech gathers.
42 mins: Liverpool are level. Details here, yeah?
40 mins: Lamela charges down a routine clearance from Koscielny, who ends up off the pitch and on his behind. Which is a rather neat summation of how the game has gone, really.
39 mins: Big chance for Arsenal. The ball breaks to Cazorla, who has a chance to shoot in space largely because Alli was off the pitch changing his shorts, but instead he plays it left to Campbell, but from his cross Sanchez is offside.
37 mins: Just on that tussle between Giroud and Vertonghen: there was some fairly bog-standard shoving and pulling, then Giroud went down under the slightest touch, before getting up and barging Vertonghen to the floor. In short, embarrassing stuff from the Frenchman.
36 mins: Another chance created by Tottenham, as Alli muscles his way past Monreal and drives inside. However, his pass looking for Kane was errant, and the attack dies.
35 mins: Bit of naughtiness off the ball - firstly Giroud goes down in a tussle with Vertonghen, then Giroud barges his opponent over. The referee did nothing and neither did the linesman.
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34 mins: Lamela does well to chase down a ball on the left, but then having got the thing he tries a little trick rather than play an easy pass inside to Alli. The youngster digs his more senior and more expensive colleague out for the error.
32 mins: A combination of excellence from Spurs and carelessness from Arsenal. Rose plays a terrific ball down the left channel and Kane’s away, courtesy of a badly-deployed offside trap from Koscielny. Kane keeps his composure and slips it past Cech, who perhaps went down a little early and made it a touch easier for the England man, who now has six in his last four games.
GOAL! Arsenal 0-1 Tottenham (Kane 32)
It’s been coming.
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30 mins: Rose crosses from the left but it’s blocked. And here’s David Flynn with some thoughts on the Spurs full-back: “Rose there just illustrated why I’m not a professional footballer. Not the lack of skill, not the belly, not the fondness of a sneaky craft ale, (no reason why I couldn’t play for Sunderland) no, it’s the fact that I have too much shame to roll around in mock pain front of thousands of people after the air around my face was briefly disturbed.”
29 mins: Lamela, partly thanks to his own work, briefly looks like he might be free and through on goal, but Monreal does superbly to get back and spirit the ball away from him with the minimum of fuss.
28 mins: More neat work by Spurs is finished off poorly. They shift some space down the right, Walker’s clipped cross reaches Rose at the back post but his shot with his swinger of a right foot goes high and wide and roughly in the direction of Alexandra Palace.
27 mins: Good opening quarter or so to the game. Tottenham the better team so far, certainly the most threatening, and probably should be in the lead.
25 mins: Huge chance for Spurs. Eriksen swings the free-kick over to the back stick, where Dier is waiting without even the hint of being marked, but he scuffs his header wide when he should’ve at least hit the target. Arsenal seemingly haven’t learned from the defensive debacles in the week against Bayern.
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24 mins: Eriksen has the ball around 20 yards out but dithers slightly and is dispossessed as he tries to break through the defence. Kane then wins the ball back and a free-kick as he’s fouled out on the left.
23 mins: Meanwhile, Crystal Palace have taken the lead at Liverpool. Join Tom Lutz for how went down here.
22 mins: Boos ring out as Rose goes down clutching his face. Replays suggest he did get a waft of Campbell’s loose arm in his mush, but not enough to perhaps inspire the extent of his woe.
21 mins: Slight positional change from Spurs - Dembele has dropped deeper, with Alli taking up the No.10 role.
20 mins: Some neat play by Spurs sets up Walker for a chance to cross, but an absolutely brilliant sliding challenge from Coquelin not only dispossesses the right-back, but retains the ball for Arsenal and they carry the ball clear.
19 mins: Slightly surprising that Spurs haven’t attacked Arsenal’s right side more. Eriksen has it on that flank but shifts it inside to Dembele, but his shot is deflected wide. The corner is played short, then shifted for Eriksen to shoot but it goes well wide.
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17 mins: The corner from Ozil is no good, plus Mertesacker is penalised for some pushin’ and a pullin’.
16 mins: Arsenal win a corner on the left, but before Ozil can take it he discards something thrown onto the pitch from the away support. Naughty naughty.
15 mins: Alderweireld and Verthonghen spend a few seconds passing the ball to each other deep in their own territory, before the former tries a long pass towards Eriksen. Koscielny misjudges the flight and it reaches Eriksen, but he can’t control it properly.
13 mins: Alli can’t keep the ball in play, but he does get an encouraging tap on the buttocks from Pochettino as he returns to the field of play. So swings and roundabouts.
12 mins: Campbell tries to make some room with his rapid feet in the corner, but can’t manage it and eventually dribbles the ball out of play.
10 mins: Excellent driving run from Dier through the midfield, he reaches the edge of the box and squares to Lamela, who subsequently spreads it wide to Rose, but his low cross betwixt defence and keeper is claimed low by Cech.
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9 mins: Corner from the right for Arsenal, which Ozil swings over, looking to stick it right under the crossbar, but it’s headed clear reasonably easily.
7 mins: Worried about Neville’s throat. Someone get that man some warm honey or something.
6 mins: Brilliant clipped ball over the Spurs defence by Sanchez, leaving Rose for dead, but Campbell tries to control with his left foot slightly awkwardly, and the ball skips out of play.
5 mins: Quick, frantic stuff so far, as you’d imagine.
4 mins: A great midfield tackle by Dele Alli sets Spurs off on a counter-attack, but as Spurs reach the edge of the penalty area they dither, with first Dembele then Eriksen hesitating when they had the chance to shoot. Arsenal launch a counter-counter, then when that breaks down there’s a counter-counter-counter from Spurs, but despite some neat footwork by Lamela, Kane couldn’t control the ball from a pass inside the Arsenal area.
2 mins: Cazorla plays a long ball over the top, possibly thinking that Theo Walcott was playing up top for Arsenal today. As it is, with Molasses Giroud leading the line, there’s not quite enough pace there to catch up with that one.
1 min: We’re off. Tottenham start things. Gary Neville sounds like he has a very sore throat.
“Unfortunately Arsenal don’t really need any attacking players on the bench,” writes Spurs fan Enna Cooper, “as Flamini is all but guaranteed to score against us if he comes on.”
The teams are on their way out. Arsenal showing flagrant disrespect by covering up their embroidered poppies with tracksuit tops. Unbelievable.
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“Arsenal’s subs bench has a full-back, two centre-backs and two deep lying midfielders,” writes Lolan. “That doesn’t seem right. Are there quick footed inexperienced wingers named Flamini and Chambers I hadn’t heard of?”
Injuries, injuries, injuries. A big surprise at Arsenal, obviously.
Care for a combined Arsenal/Tottenham team? Have a watch of this, but more importantly don’t come kvetching to me if the opinions don’t directly agree with yours. I didn’t pick the teams, for a start.
And that’s full-time in the other game, where bottom side Aston Villa have held Manchester City to a 0-0 draw. This means Arsenal can go two points clear at the top with a win here.
Meanwhile, Gervinho has just scored in the Rome derby. Advantage Arsenal.
Pre-game watching. Firstly, have Arsene Wenger talking about Arsenal’s long list of injuries, as if this was a new thing.
Plenty of pre-match reading for this one. Start with James Riach on Tottenham and their collection o’ youngsters.
If they are good enough, they are old enough. So goes the adage often used when a fresh-faced protege emerges from the rank and file at a tender age. Under Mauricio Pochettino it is a mantra that Tottenham have taken to another level, a modus operandi which is reaping rewards as a young and vibrant squad impresses during the early stages of the season.
“I’m not afraid to play them,” says Pochettino. “If a player deserves to play, if they are 17, 18, 19 or 20 it’s the same for us, if they deserve to play and show character and maturity to be given the responsibility. But for that, you need to build the player.”
Spurs are unbeaten since the opening day of the Premier League campaign, going into the north London derby with Arsenal on Sunday. It is their third game of a week that began with Monday’s 3-1 victory over Aston Villa and was followed bya narrow win against Anderlecht in the Europa League. The biggest match of all comes after a taxing period but, given the abundant energy on display at White Hart Lane in recent times, tiredness should not be a factor for a fledgling team brimming with zest.
Team news
Arsenal
Cech; Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Coquelin, Cazorla; Campbell, Özil, Sanchez; Giroud. Subs: Gibbs, Gabriel, Arteta, Ospina, Flamini, Chambers, Iwobi.
Tottenham Hotspur
Lloris; Walker, Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Rose; Dier, Alli; Lamela, Dembele, Eriksen; Kane. Subs: Vorm, Davies, Trippier, Carroll, Mason, Onomah, Son.
Referee: Martin Atkinson (Bradford)
Preamble
There’s something afoot in the wind. Well, sort of. Talk of a guard-changing in Norf London a few years ago was proved to be incorrect, and of course there’s little suggestion now that Tottenham are a better team than Arsenal, but there’s at least a hint that it will be a little closer. They might, for example, win this game today, which would represent only their second win at Arsenal in the last 23 games. Younes Kaboul scored the winner in the other one, fact fans.
Tottenham haven’t lost in the league since the opening day of the season, and even that was due to an unlucky/slapstick own-goal by Kyle Walker at Manchester United. They haven’t exactly blown the doors off the Premier League, but they’ve been quietly impressive, accumulating points and climbing the table so that a victory in this game will take them within a point of United in fourth, and a mere two back from their hated local foes.
The point is that Tottenham are good. They have a pretty solid defence (only the two previously mentioned teams have conceded fewer goals than Mauricio Pochettino’s men so far), the league’s most pleasantly surprising midfield partnership in the 19-year-old Dele Alli and the 21-year-old Eric Dier, Christian Eriksen is as good as ever, Erik Lamela is finding some form and Harry Kane as five goals in his last three games. It’s shaping up rather nicely.
Their manager has a decent record with the kids, many of whom have been given a chance in his teams, both here and at Southampton. Here’s what he had to say on youth before this game:
It’s not about age or name,” says Pochettino when discussing team selection and developing young talent. “I think it’s fair when you have a squad of 25 or 26 players that the young player, if he deserves to play, why not give him the chance?
“The younger player needs faith in them and you need to translate the feeling that you believe in them. The important thing is that they need to believe that you believe because, if not, it’s nothing. If they feel that you only want to add some names in your list, this is the worst thing you can show. When they feel that you believe, but really believe in them, it gives them extra. This is the moment they can play.
“A good example is Dier, when we signed him from Portugal, the first game he played against West Ham and after that was centre-back, then full-back and this season I think that we start to train with him as a holding midfielder. I think it’s a fantastic position for him.”
Things are looking up, and they have a solid enough chance of a win in this one, particularly as their opponents will presumably be smarting somewhat from having their collective bottom spanked and then some by Bayern Munich in the week. Arsène Wenger wants his boys to put that nasty adventure out of their minds, as you might expect:
We can still have a bright future in the Champions League,” he says. “I feel we are not out of the competition yet. Of all the teams I have seen Bayern would be the super favourite. We knew before the game that Bayern was a special game for us and that the Premier League is a competition where we are on a strong run up to now and we want to continue that. This weekend we have a good opportunity to put things right.”
There’s a sense that Wenger might not cry himself to sleep if they do exit Europe, that the domestic league is the one he really wants which is not an unreasonable aim given the rather open nature (or, rather, the more open nature than some other seasons) of the title race. Chelsea are a mess, United can’t pass the thing forwards never mind score many goals, Tottenham and Liverpool aren’t ready, Leicester and West Ham will regress to the mean at some point. Manchester City are the favourites, but even they have their moments, and have their best players out injured at the moment. And at the time of writing, they’re making pretty heavy weather of playing Aston Villa.
So we shall see. Two teams on the up. Two that score goals. Two that can’t stand each other. Should be good. Team news soon.
Kick-off: 4pm GMT
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