Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal - White Hart Lane, London - Tuesday 22nd January 2008

After a somewhat fortunate draw in the home leg of this Carling Cup semi final (which I had to miss thanks to a trip to Warsaw), it was off to bandit country for the second leg. Spurs have been playing increasingly well against Arsenal in the 2 recent meetings, since the arrival of Juande Ramos as manager, and many Arsenal fans, myself included, saw this game as a big potential banana skin, especially given the likely Arsenal line up. 21 games unbeaten against Spurs (I was at the last defeat, 2-1 in November 1999, and I remember it well - not nice), so the run had to end some time, right?

Well, it did, and in pretty spectacular fashion. Despite a relatively (for the Carling Cup) strong Arsenal squad (most of the stars of which started on the bench, including Fabregas, Adebayor and Eduardo), Spurs were incredibly up for it, and came flying out of the blocks from the word go, practically steamrollering Arsenal from the first minute. For the entire game, Spurs players allowed Arsenal players absolutely no time and space on the ball, forced mistakes in our passing, and having scored their first goal on 2 minutes, saw our defence play so high up the pitch that they were able to get in on goal on too many occasions. In short, they just wanted the victory much, much more than we did, and that difference in commitment was reflected (although rather generously for Spurs) in the scoreline.

Much as the Spurs performance was good, and their players were extremely committed, several Arsenal players did not have a game to remember. Gallas was inexplicably poor in defence, Lukasz Fabianski looked like he could have done better for a couple of the goals, Hleb completely failed to work out that, when Spurs players are chasing you in pairs, you do not have time on the ball to waste. Bendtner scored an own goal, Walcott looked totally demoralised and out of his depth, and, well, there were several nightmare displays in Arsenal shirts (hello, Gilberto!!). The shitty icing on the shitty cake was a set-to between Bendtner and Adebayor towards the end, which William Gallas had to step in and break up. When your players are arguing with each other, it does at least show they care, but it isn't a good sign.

Having waited 9 years and 22 games to beat Arsenal, the idiot Spurs fans of course made the most of it. At first, even when 3-0 up, they didn't sing much, doubtless still mindful of their team's ability to mess up from even the most comfortable looking positions. But, as Arsenal's brief revival to make it 4-1 waned, they started piping up with their Yid Army crap. By the end, there was an almost embarrassing scene - like when a third or fourth division team beats a Premiership side in an FA Cup game. They were waving flags, singing Spurs Are On Their Way To Wembley, and I'm sure if there had been face painting available in the crowd, most of them would have gone for it. It was a little bit embarrassing to watch, but sod em, they are welcome to their 5 minutes of glory, before they get beaten in the final of the least prestigious tournament that a Premiership team enters.

Did that sound a bit bitter? Of course, this unbeaten run against them had to end some time. I do regret that, in almost a decade of dominance against them, we never gave them the battering they deserved on occasions. And, more than finally losing to them, the performance from our players tonight was pathetic, and didn't reflect the importance that Arsenal fans attach to beating Spurs. Despite what some may say, 5-1 was a joke scoreline that flattered Spurs, but there was no doubt that Arsenal deserved to lose today, and that Spurs deserved to win. Still, we did score the best goal of the game, a shame it was so pointless. Maybe this is the game that saw Spurs become very slightly less of a laughing stock than before.