Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal - White Hart Lane, London - Sunday 8th February 2009

Spurs away - always a pleasurable trip, and all the more so this season given the fact that Spurs are in a relegation battle. Arsenal have had their own struggles too, which meant that the level of piss taking was a bit more subdued than normal - but the 3,000 Gooners still arrived at White Hart Lane knowing that they would not want to swap places with Spurs fans for a second. Maybe Spurs' troubles this season have really started to worry their fans, as the noise from the home sections was distinctly less evident than normal.

Irritatingly, I missed the first 20 minutes of the game, thanks to being caught in a police escort from Finsbury Park to the stadium. I left the pub 5 minutes too late, by which time it was surrounded by police, and the ensuing escort seemed to take forever. Far from being an escort of dangerous hooligans, there were plenty of normal people there - plus lots of muppets thinking they were "pwopa nawty" boys, taking pictures and filming everything on their phones. We were marched into the Tube, chucked onto an empty train (which had been terminated especially), then wrapped up and marched up Tottenham High Road - which was completely empty because the game had started. When we did finally get to the ground, the cordon of stewards making people go in single file to the turnstiles was unnecessary and not at all appreciated.

What I had missed in the first 20 minutes was Arsenal's best period of the game, and about half of the Emmanuel Eboue show. He had the ball in the net, a goal which was harshly disallowed because the referee gave the softest foul ever. He had made a couple of other decent runs, looking like our brightest player - and also stupidly talked himself into a booking for dissent. When I got to my seat, people around me were saying "Eboue is going to get sent off here", and it took about another 10 minutes for that to happen. A ridiculously stupid flick on Luca Modric (like Beckham's in the 1998 World Cup), which the referee saw, and had no real choice but to punish. Wenger does like to defend his players, but notably failed to defend Eboue on this occasion. You have to wonder what it would take for him to be kicked out of the club once and for all - he is a stupid cheat, and I don't know an Arsenal fan that isn't ashamed of him. Wenger talks about intelligence being a key quality for his players - it is very obvious that Eboue has none.

Other than the Eboue idiocy, the first half saw a decent chance that Adebayor just failed to get on the end of, and the blow of him being stretchered off with a hamstring pull. He has been in dog awful form recently, but with our lack of bite in attack right now, we really can't afford to lose him. On his way off, the stretcher went around the "long way", right past the Paxton end, so that the sporting and gracious Spurs fans could abuse him as he was lying in pain on a stretcher. Showing their true class.

Having 10 men for most of the game obviously stretched Arsenal - although 0-0 at half time was a goal better off (albeit a man worse off) than we usually are at half time at the Lane. We had what looked like a pretty determined reaction in the second half, which in hindsight was a great display with 10 men. Song had a really decent game, and the best Arsenal chance of the match, missing from 6 yards midway through the second half. We were bit timid going forward (despite keeping 2 up front), but that was understandable given the disadvantage in personnel. We could probably have done with a sub later on, as we seemed to "drop a little bit physically" (as Mr Wenger might say) towards the end. But, the main subs available were creative, attacking players (including Eduardo, at long last), and keeping it tight was really the aim of the game here.

Just as the game was about to end, it sprang into life, the last 5 minutes or so becoming really end to end. There were injury time sniffs at goal for both teams, Modric (who had a good game generally, despite looking like an 8 year old girl) had the best chance, but Almunia saved the day.

This game kept our unbeaten League run against Spurs going - we have not lost a League match since November 1999, so depending on how next season's fixtures work out, we are pushing 10 years since we last lost to them. Today was Spurs' first clean sheet in all competitions against Arsenal since November 1998, so maybe they are making a little progress. That said, in League terms, a point didn't really do either team any favours. Arsenal fell further behind the Top 4 (and are closer to being caught by Everton), and Spurs failed to get clear of the Bottom 3. Arsenal now have a significant gap to close if they want to finish 4th - the next 13 League games will be very, very important now.