After my work Christmas party the previous day, the last thing I needed was a 12:45 kick off, especially against Spurs. Just when I needed to channel all hatred at the opposition, and crank the vocal chords up to the maximum, I woke up feeling rubbish, and unable to do anything except feel like death. Things didn't get much better on entering the stadium, and finding out that Robin Van Persie was nowhere to be seen - injured again when we are facing a run of games where we really need him. There was much to talk about before the game - Spurs improvement since Juande Ramos took over (not that they could have got much worse); the very exciting (if a little daunting) Champions League draw against AC Milan; the promising win by the kids at Blackburn in the Carling Cup during the week (with a totally different 16 to the one we had today - that's strength in depth for you!); and the subsequent semi final draw, which gives us 2 bonus games against Spurs next month - lovely! That and Christmas meant that there was barely time to squeeze all that chat in before the game started.
Luckily, the first half was so uneventful that the conversation could continue, if only as a necessary evil to break up the boredom. Arsenal just didn't seem to be trying at all - in fact, you could almost believe that it was a deliberate tactic, to contain Spurs, conserve energy, and try to play the match in the second half only. Spurs were working hard, chasing everything, and doing all the running - with Arsenal doing just the bare minimum to avoid going behind. Perhaps we were cruelly toying with them before beating them later, or perhaps we just had an off half - but at half time, there were some frayed nerves after a most un-Arsenal-like performance.
The second half was much more exciting all round, containing more incident than many whole games. It also saw a much improved Arsenal performance. After 2 minutes or so, we had taken the lead, a fantastic move cutting right through Spurs, and a brilliant backheel from Fabregas to Adebayor, who finished very coolly indeed. That woke both team and fans up, and Arsenal had a couple of good chances in the minutes that followed.
After a while though, Spurs started to claw their way back into the game. Robbie Keane missed a chance that it would have been much, much easier to score, much to the amusement of everybody at the northern end of the ground. A few minutes later, though, Spurs did equalise - Keane feeding Dimitar Berbatov, who drilled a fantastic shot at a very difficult angle, to about the only place that Manuel Almunia wouldn't have been able to save it. Berbatov did look like their only world class player (that's because he is), but he did also spend lots of the game standing around with his hands on his hips, looking completely disinterested.
Things turned even more into Spurs' favour (briefly), when they were awarded a penalty, one about which we could have no complaint. Robbie Keane then stepped up and took a very poor kick, which was saved by Almunia. After some scary pinball in the box, we finally got the ball clear, and that proved to be the turning point of the game. Suitably warned about the dangers of being slack, Arsenal stepped up a gear. Spurs players heads dropped, and the balance of power started to swing back in Arsenal's direction.
The game was won just after the 70 minute mark, when Arsenal won a corner. We sent on Nicklas Bendtner whilst Fabregas was waiting to take the kick. Spurs also sent on Jermaine Defoe as a sub, breaking the first rule of coaching, that you are not supposed to make a substitution when defending a corner or free kick. That is because people don't know who they are supposed to be marking - and thankfully, nobody was marking Bendtner. Cesc floated the corner in, and Nicky rose up to head it in with his first touch. There were a few tense moments between then and the end of the game, but Arsenal were pretty competent in closing out the victory.
A very good win - Spurs haven't beaten Arsenal since 1999 (or 20 games), so it is always good to cheat the law of averages again (although it can't be long before it bites us). We won without playing particularly well, and arguably without playing at all for half of the game. Six points from games against Chelsea and Spurs isn't at all bad, so we are still top of the League at Christmas. A very nice present for Gooners everywhere. The Observer match report is here, as is another review, with some good Arsenal vs Spurs stats. We'll see the Spuds again in January, for (hopefully) some more Arsenal victory.
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