After what seemed like an eternity since I last made it to an Arsenal game (well, it was almost two months ago), the biggest game of the season so far was not one to be missed. The baby was packed off to her grandparents, so Spurs at home could be enjoyed in full. I attended the game on 7th November 1999, which was the last time we lost to Spurs in the league - and avoiding defeat in this game would ensure we got to the 10th anniversary. Of course, in the run-up to the game, Spurs players, manager and fans were giving it large about how they are ready to overtake Arsenal now - but then, don't they always say that?Going into the ground, it was good to see the results of the recent "Arsenalisation" in the lower tiers - lost of fantastic decoration, which makes our stadium more like a museum or art gallery in some respects - and a definite cut above any other stadium I've been to. Arsenal are leading the way once again.
Arsenal started the game very sluggishly, for the first half hour things just weren't clicking. Although David Bentley could have been booked a couple of times in the first 20 minutes, Spurs seemed to be doing a good job of containing Arsenal. Of course, certain Arsenal players didn't help with that, namely Diaby who had an awful first hour or so, and Almunia, whose distribution I thought was very poor, losing the ball pretty much every time. Bendtner seemed to be putting in the effort and playing pretty well, but even that didn't last, as he limped off after just over half an hour. And the man we all look to for inspiration, Cesc Fabregas, seemed not to quite be clicking to begin with.
Then, in an awesome 90 seconds just before half time, the game exploded into life. Robin Van Persie managed to steal in front of Ledley King, turning what seemed like an innocuous chance into the first goal. The celebrations were enthusiastic, both on the pitch and in the crowd. Then, straight from the restart, when we hadn't even properly finished celebrating, Spurs gifted the ball to Fabregas, who ran 30 yards from the centre circle and scored. The stadium went absolutely crazy, one of the best celebrations I've ever been a part of - and I think the sheer surprise that we had managed to go 2 goals up in 90 seconds, without really having threatened until then, was a big part of what was making everybody so happy. Half time arrived, and the celebrations continued in the concourses, with everybody looking shellshocked but happy.
Those 90 seconds basically won the match. Unlike a couple of annoying examples from previous weeks, Arsenal showed no signs of screwing this one up. In fact, I was surprised by how much Arsenal dominated after that, and by how poor Spurs were. Maybe I made the mistake of overestimating them (an easy mistake to allow yourself to be fooled into). There were decent spells in the second half where Spurs just couldn't get hold of the ball, and the "ole" shouts started with a good 20 minutes to do. They even almost gifted us the third goal too - inexplicably stopping playing when the referee had clearly waved play on. Their stopping almost fooled our players into stopping play too, but luckily we went on to get the goal. We even had the opportunity to miss a couple of complete sitters later on - and at 3-0 up, even Diaby started to stroke the ball around, now that it didn't matter any more.
Any win against Spurs is always received well in N5, so when the final whistle went, it provoked an afternoon and evening of celebration around the pubs of Holloway Road. By normal standards too, this was a decently emphatic victory - we never seem to stick 5 past them, which is a shame, but this was as emphatic as we tend to get against them. Just what the doctor ordered, and our incredible average of over 3 goals a game continues.
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