That’s all from me. I’ll be back later for West Ham v Newcastle. In the meantime, Barry Glendenning has the Clockwatch. Bye for now!
Unai Emery talks:
You prepare one match, thinking the best performance. After can happen different situations, issues on 90 minutes. The balance is we are I think fine in our way, today being competitive, adapting our performance against them. For us I think it’s good. Not the result because we can win. But because we can be stronger after that match, in our mentality for the next matches.
One month ago I said to everybody my opinion: VAR is coming to help the referees. It’s very difficult for the referees. To analyse with the TV is very easy. VAR I think will help them, and maybe today’s match would be different. But I understand it’s difficult for referees. But I like the manner of the referee today.
Here’s David Hytner’s match report from Wembley:
On the finest of margins can matches, and even seasons, turn. Tottenham were labouring against their bitter rivals, seemingly out of ideas against an Arsenal team that led through Aaron Ramsey and had executed Unai Emery’s gameplan to the letter.
Spurs were staring at a third consecutive Premier League defeat and the last time that happened was in 2012. The implications were grave. Mauricio Pochettino had conceded that the title was out of reach for his team after the losses at Burnley and Chelsea but another reverse would have imperilled their top-four hopes while simultaneously encouraging Arsenal. Then Christian Eriksen floated in a 73rd-minute free-kick and everything changed.
Much more here:
Harry Kane has a chat:
We came out in the second half fighting and deserved to get back into the game. Good tackles, good aggression, good pressing, and it looked like we were going to go on and get the second.
We’d had two disappointing results. It was a perfect game to get back and show the fans we’re ready to fight for the rest of the season. It’s a point, obviously we wanted three, but it stops the losing streak. We had to come out fighting and show what we were made of, and thankfully we did.
How did Vertonghen catch up with Aubameyang so quickly? Well, massive encroachment might have helped:
Vertonghen several yards inside the box when Auba takes the pen to get there for the second shot clearance. pic.twitter.com/vbfmsCMVRZ
— Ian Baldwin (@balders93) March 2, 2019
Vertonghen’s clearance from Aubameyang in the aftermath of Arsenal’s missed penalty was the moment of the match. Arsenal deserved to win that, I thought, but their manager’s gutsy team selection and the excellent motivation and organisation displayed by the players he chose will perhaps get forgotten because two wrong penalty decisions and a wrong red card decision will steal the headlines.
Final score: Tottenham 1-1 Arsenal
90+7 mins: And that’s it! Goals! Controversy! Penalties! Red cards! A long period in the middle without great drama or quality! It had the lot!
Updated
Torreira gets sent off!
94+5 mins: Torreira wins the ball just outside the area, but connects with Rose’s shin in his follow-through. It looked to me like an excellent challenge without nay malice but with an unfortunate collision at the end of it, but there are studs and legs involved, and the referee thinks it’s red-card-worthy!
Updated
90+3 mins: Aubameyang is played in down the right again, but Sanchez clears his attempted pass inside to Ozil.
90+3 mins: It was Vertonghen who got his foot to the ball after the penalty to deny Aubameyang a tap-in. Remarkable defending.
90+2 mins: There will be five minutes of stoppage time. Now Spurs have a free kick, 15 yards outside the area.
It's saved! And then another miss in the aftermath!
90+1 mins: Aubameyang’s penalty is rubbish, and easily saved by Lloris. He pushes it wide, and it’s sent back into the middle where Aubameyang seems certain to turn it in from a yard, only for Vertonghen to somehow conjure a clearance!
Updated
Arsenal have a penalty!
90 mins: Mkhitaryan turns into space on the halfway line and waits an age before playing in Aubameyang, who runs down the right side of the area where he is certainly touched by Davinson Sanchez but just as certainly didn’t need to go down. He did go down, though, and the referee points to the spot again!
Updated
88 mins: Vertonghen’s fine cross from the left is well cleared by Koscielny.
87 mins: Arsenal are slowing the game down now, happy with their point. Sokratis goes down under Kane’s challenge, and takes forever to get up.
84 mins: Koscielny loses a header to Llorente wins a header and gets caught in the face by a trailing arm. Llorente is slightly harshly booked.
84 mins: “Is it relevant that Kane was offside given that he was fouled before he could touch the ball?” wonders John Johnson. He’s offside as soon as he becomes active, which he does when he starts winning penalties.
83 mins: Tottenham have not drawn a league game for 11 months, since this game at Brighton. This is history in the making.
79 mins: Son, who has been isolated and quiet today, goes off and Llorente comes on.
77 mins: The linesman might have been unsighted, because there were about four other offside Tottenham players blocking his view of Kane standing offside.
GOAL! Tottenham 1-1 Arsenal (Kane, 74 mins)
That is undeserved on so many levels, but Tottenham are back in this game! Leno goes to his right, the ball goes to his left, and Kane is on the scoresheet again!
Updated
Tottenham have a penalty!
Big decision, this! Spurs have a free kick 50 yards out; Eriksen lifts it into the area where the fact that Kane is offside goes unspotted; Mustafi barges him in the back and the referee points to the spot!
Updated
72 mins: Mkhitaryan plays a pass into the path of Aubameyang and for an instant he looks set to hare down on goal, but Sissoko pops up to steal the ball away. Arsenal bring Özil on, replacing Ramsey.
71 mins: Özil is doing up his laces and preparing to come on.
@Simon_Burnton Couldn’t let it go.. No of players in the top 100, minutes played: Wolves 9, CrystalP&Chelsea 8, Liverpool&Watford 7, Leicester 6, ManC&Everton&Brighton&Bournemouth 5, WestH&ManU&Huddersfield&Cardiff&Burnley 4, Spurs&Fulham 3, Southhampton&Arsenal 2
— Sam (@Jebuco) March 2, 2019
Updated
68 mins: Chance for Spurs! But if falls to Rose! Lamela spots Rose free beyond the far post and crosses, Mkhitaryan misjudges his attempted header and misses it completely, but Rose’s poor chest control sends the ball bouncing towardsLeno, and in trying to get it back Rose flies into the keeper two-footed, with all his studs showing, and hits him in the chest. Rose is booked.
65 mins: Spurs are using the long ball a lot less in this half. This is helping them look less disjointed, but they are still failing to really stretch Arsenal’s defence. Lamela gives up on doing so, and shoots wide from 30 yards.
63 mins: Lamela wins the day’s second caution, for sliding in to collect the ball ignoring the fact that Xhaka was between him and it.
Updated
62 mins: Rose fouls Mkhitaryan on Arsenal’s right flank, and the free kick dips at the far post and just over the line before it’s headed back across goal.
59 mins: Tottenham take off Wanyama, who has been pretty hopeless, and bring on Lamela.
58 mins: Mkhitaryan wins the days first booking, for bringing down Kane.
56 mins: Arsenal make their second substitution. Lacazette, who attempted just five passes in the first half and has not been at his best, is replaced by Aubameyang.
55 mins: And a chance for Spurs! A free-kick from deep is lifted into the box, flicks off Mustafi’s head and lands with Alderweireld, just beyond the right-hand post, who volleys into the side netting!
53 mins: What a chance for Lacazette! Mkhitaryan passes to him in the area but though it briefly looks promising he can’t turn. Instead he goes back to Iwobi, and on to Monreal, whose pull-back finds Lacazette, now in space, but his first-time shot flies wide!
Updated
50 mins: Excellent work by Kane in the middle to keep the ball, and a fine pass to Trippier at the end of it, but his cross is terribly poor. Abysmal, really. Arsenal have a throw-in on the other flank.
Updated
48 mins: Trippier grabs Ramsey’s arm and won’t let go. Ramsey eventually goes to ground, presumably in an attempt to bring the referee’s attention to the offence, Trippier, by virtue of being attached to him, goes down too, and the referee gives Spurs a free kick.
Updated
46 mins: They’re off!
I tell a lie: Torreira has replaced Guendouzi for Arsenal.
The players are coming back out, with no obvious changes to either side.
“As well as looking fatigued Spurs also look to have lost some confidence in themselves in the last three games since Kane came back,” suggests Mike Nagle. “Could it be that rushing Kane back had a negative impact insofar as the team are waiting for Kane to produce his magic?” Possibly, but he doesn’t look particularly sub-par today. This game is being lost in midfield, mainly because Spurs don’t seem to have one.
Updated
“I don’t think having only 2 or 3 in the top 100 is that unusual,” says Hubert O’Hearn about the players with the most league minutes. “A perfectly even distribution among 20 teams would only indicate 5. None would be a M*A*S*H unit, 8 or more bottom table. For curiosity’s sake, who does have the most?”
Well, that would take a long time to work out. Looking at the other top six sides, Chelsea have seven players in the top 50, Manchester City have five of the top 100, Liverpool have seven of the top 100 and Manchester United have four.
Half time: Tottenham 0-1 Arsenal
45+2 mins: And that’s the last action of the half! Arsenal’s apparently underpowered team is defending superbly against a prosaic Tottenham side, and has grabbed a goal of their own on the break.
Half-time reading:
Updated
45+1 mins: Son’s ludicrous long-range left-footer flies high, and Pochettino storms off towards the changing room.
45+1 mins: Into stoppage time, of which there will me a rather meagre single minute.
44 mins: Fantastic double save from Leno! Kane curls a fabulous cross into the area for Eriksen, who really should have scored. Instead he hits Leno’s leg but the ball rebounds to Sissoko, whose drive towards an apparently empty net is thwarted by the grounded Leno throwing out his left hand!
Updated
41 mins: Arsenal come close to a second! Iwobi cuts in from the left, ghosts past Trippier and sends a curler towards the far post, where Lloris dives to push clear!
38 mins: Vertonghen’s shot from 25 yards flies well wide. On the subject of fatigue, Spurs only have three players in the top 100 for minutes played in the Premier League – Toby Alderweireld at 48, Hugo Lloris at 65 and Harry Kane at 86. This is unusual, though Arsenal only have two, with Aubeyang the top ranked at 76.
Updated
34 mins: Leno gets a warning for timewasting. “Not so many claiming how smart it was to sign no players in the summer now are they?” says Gary Naylor. “Tottenham have, and are, looking mentally fatigued.” That certainly may be contributing. They’re also really missing Dele Alli, and someone who bursts from midfield beyond the forward line.
31 mins: Another promising Spurs attack is ruined by a poor pass, Rose’s straightforward ball to Eriksen being well overhit. He catches up with it by the corner flag, and is forced to go back to Vertonghen.
27 mins: A move that sums up Spurs’s start to the game: Kane brings the ball under control and passes poorly to Eriksen, who has to stretch to control and thus loses a shooting chance. Instead he passes poorly to Trippier, who has to stretch to control and thus loses a crossing chance. Son then creates something out of nothing, dancing into the area and towards goal, going past a couple of defenders, and finally being dispossessed by Monreal.
Updated
26 mins: Mustafi loses the ball to Rose and then brings the Spurs left-back down, and is a bit lucky to escape without a caution.
24 mins: Kane has the ball in the net … but it’s offside! Spurs win a free-kick on the right, but as it’s taken three Spurs players are half a yard beyond the Arsenal backline, and both Trippier’s lovely cross and Kane’s excellent header back across goal and into the far corner is for nought.
Updated
20 mins: Tottenham don’t seem to have much of a plan, beyond getting members of their defence to pump long balls towards Kane and Son.
GOAL! Tottenham 0-1 Arsenal (Ramsey, 16 mins)
Kane controls a bouncing ball, bursts into the area and the crowd draws breath, waiting for the shot and for the net to bulge. Instead he takes another touch, loses the ball, it’s cleared to the halfway line where Sanchez misjudges his header and Lacazette releases Ramsey with the simplest of passes. He runs clear from the halfway line, rounds the keeper and rolls in!
Updated
14 mins: The referee is letting the football flow. Arsenal are grateful for that, after Xhaka brings down Kane from behind 30 yards from goal and, with the crowd baying and the forward on the floor, Anthony Taylor waves play on.
Updated
11 mins: Mkhitaryan turns nicely into space 25 yards from goal, and is in a perfect position to have a shot with his left foot. Instead he tries a pass that’s never on, and Spurs get the ball.
Updated
10 mins: Guendouzi, trying to make sure the ball goes behind for a corner, blocks Alderweireld with his elbow, thereby ensuring Spurs have a free kick instead.
7 mins: This is a proper derby – high-tempo football, nobody having a moment on the ball, the middle third of the pitch obscenely crowded. Trippier plays a lovely pass forward to Son, but Sokratis shadows his run and then pilfers the ball.
4 mins: Nearly a chance for Spurs now, as Son is found inside the penalty area, but he’s instantly crowded out by defenders.
3 mins: Chance for Arsenal! Iwobi cuts in from the left and passes forward, the ball deflecting off a defender, into the air and over the Spurs backline to Lacazette, who volleys wide!
Updated
2 mins: Tottenham pass the ball from the right into the centre circle, where Mustafi makes the challenge. Had he failed, Danny Rose had the entire left-half of the pitch to himself.
2 mins: So Mustafi, as widely expected, has slotted in at right-back in an Arsenal back four. “Craig Foster, on the Australian coverage, has tried to make sense of the Arsenal lineup,” writes Phil Withall. “I am now more confused than I was before. Some serious brain thinking from Emery.”
1 min: And they’re off! Arsenal get the game under way.
Preambles completed, kick will be off any moment now.
And out they come!
The players are in the tunnel!
“The only logic I can see in Emery’s selection is one of stalwart defence, followed by substituting on the attackers once the opposition are tired,” says William Hargreaves. “Is this Waterloo or Wembley?”
Arsenal have won seven of the last 63 possible points away at other big six sides. It really is a stinking record. I’m not sure that leaving a taxi full of their best players on the bench is the best way to change it, but it certainly makes life interesting.
In four games away at the Big Six this season, Arsenal have scored six goals, but have conceded 13, earning just one point.
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) March 2, 2019
And the omens, for Arsenal, are not good:
1 - The away team have won just one of the last 16 Premier League fixtures between Spurs and Arsenal, with the Gunners winning 1-0 at White Hart Lane in March 2014; the home team has won each of the last four since April 2017. Constraints. pic.twitter.com/K6FALaGrZu
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 2, 2019
BT Sport’s analysts are astonished by the Arsenal team. If Arsenal lose today, they’ll go for him with both barrels. Here’s Rio Ferdinand:
When you see the opposition team sheet, you all go round the manager, ‘Who’s in?’ What? Aubameyang is on the bench? Torreira? Then you go back to sit down and you’re like, ‘This is us.’
Mauricio Pochettino has a very brief chat:
We trust in our squad. A massive opportunity for Victor Wanyama to help the team from the beginning. We’re disappointed with Harry Winks but hope for the next few games he’ll be available. It’s not a big issue but it was an unnecessary risk.
And so does Unai Emery:
Mostly, play with fresh players, energy, high energy, physically do all, and after our quality can start, can be on the bench. In 90 minutes we have to play small matches, starting with the first XI and after from the bench, and we need all players.
“We’re stunned by the team,” says Martin Keown. “I’m sure the Tottenham players are looking at that and thinking they can do some damage against Arsenal.”
Some gutsy calls there: Arsenal make five changes from the side that tonked Bournemouth 5-1, dumping Aubameyang, Torreira, Ozil and Kolasinac onto the bench while Jenkins drops out of the squad altogether.
The teams
The team news is in, and this is it:
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Trippier, Wanyama, Sissoko, Rose, Eriksen, Kane, Son. Subs: Lamela, Llorente, Gazzaniga, Aurier, Lucas Moura, Davies, Skipp.
Arsenal: Leno, Mustafi, Papastathopoulos, Koscielny, Monreal, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Mkhitaryan, Ramsey, Iwobi, Lacazette. Subs: Cech, Ozil, Torreira, Aubameyang, Maitland-Niles, Suarez, Kolasinac.
Referee: Anthony Taylor.
Hello world!
First things first: happy birthday Mauricio Pochettino! It might be best to squeeze this in now, before the day has a chance to go downhill. And while we’re here, happy birthday Toby Alderweireld!
Tottenham have lost their last two Premier League games, and Arsenal have won their last two Premier League games. But both of those Gunners wins came at home, while away they have been pretty wretched: they have won 18 points on their travels, fewer than Wolves and Watford as well as the rest of the top six, have not kept a clean sheet away from home all season, and have lost six and won one of their last away matches at Spurs.
If you compare Tottenham with Arsenal and the capacity to sign [players] you could say Tottenham cannot be at the same level as Arsenal,” Pochettino said this week. “Maybe if [chairman] Daniel [Levy] said to me, ‘Next season we need a title, we need to win the Champions League and we need to win the Premier League’, I would say, ‘Maybe you need to find another magic guy who can do this.’”
Another magic guy.
Anyway, here we are. Derby day. Magic guys. Birthdays. A team that hasn’t drawn a game since forever. History, Rivalry. Football.
Should be a good one.
