Woolwich Wanderers (Away) 01.10.2022

A long throw in second minute caused Lenglet to clear tentatively at the near post for a corner that Lloris went over a number of players to punch away.  Then a long right wing cross found Martinelli at the far post and his shot crashed off the post, but the referee said Lloris got a touch to it and it was a corner.  This time it drifted harmlessly over the top of the goal, but there should have been a free-kick for Spurs as Jesus had pulled Emerson as the initial cross had gone over his head to the Arsenal winger.

It had been a fast start by the home side and their aerial attack on the Spurs goal rang bells of the way they played in the 1970s and 1980s.  Tottenham could not hold the ball higher up the field, with Kane out-numbered on his own at the top of the front three the ball kept heading back towards the Spurs goal.  When Spurs got a free-kick in the 13th minute, the Arsenal line was very high and got caught out when Dier knocked the ball to his left for Richarlison, who had to stretch to poke the ball at goal and Ramsdale had to push the ball away to his right.  The home side looked for offside (an echo of their 1990s style of play) but the flag had stayed down.

Arsenal tried a few shots from outside the box – one straight at Hugo, then another way over the top from White before Xhaka drilled a left foot shot wide of Lloris’ left hand post from the left.  They worked the ball across the pitch 25 yards out and then to Saka on the right.  He played it inside to White and his square ball inside to Partey was hit first time past Hugo’s dive to his left from just outside the box in the 20 minute.

Richarlison turned Zivchenko and almost put Son in on goal, but the ball was just a little too heavy and ran through to the keeper.  The Brazilian striker was doing a lot of tracking back, but it was Merson Royal who made a good tackle on Jesus when it looked like he might break through on his side of the box.

Perisic missed the target from the left side of goal when Son sent him free from just inside the Arsenal half.   it looked like Son ahd pushed Richarlison too wide on the right when Spurs broke and he dinked the ball back into the middle of the [penalty box. It was half-cleared, but Richarlison got onto it and Gabriel brought him down getting nowhere near the ball.  Harry stepped up to hit a gentle shot down the middle as Ramsdale dived to his right and the scores were level.  It was a reckless challenge in the box and showed that Arsenal are affeered when the ball is in their penalty area.

The home keeper struggled to get to an in-swinging corner by Perisic and palmed the ball out for a throw and then a minute later Richarlison got away on the right and played the ball in low to the near post, where Kane was waiting, but it was blocked away.  Spurs were breaking fast and Son held off a shirt-pull by Odegaard and found Richarlison in the middle of the pitch, but his pass left to Perisic sent him too wide and although he got a cross in to the far post, Kane had to strain to reach it over a defender and their wasn’t a great deal of power in it, allowing Ramsdale to fall to his right to get behind it.

Arsenal were howling when Romero made a strong challenge on Odegaard but play went on and Royal was caught on the ankle before he played the ball through to Richy, who was given offside.  A string of odd decisions by Taylor, who apparently was trying to let the game flow, but seemed to be ignoring fouls for both sides.

Jesus weaved his way past a couple of players in the Spurs box before poking a shot at goal that Hugo blocked with his chest and then dived on at the second attempt, then a cross came in from their left and Saka looked to have a good opportunity, but got it all wrong and it hit his knee and Hugo could pick it up easily.

Spurs won the ball on the edge of their own area when Romero shrugged off Jesus and then he ran forward to receive Kane’s pass in the box, but Saliba blocked his cross.  Spurs blocked shots from 20 yards out from Odegaard and Partey, but Saka made his way into the box and hit a low shot that Lloris stopped but it went straight into the middle of the goalmouth, bounced back off Romero and Jesus forced it over the line from close range.

A Spurs corner was weakly punched out by their keeper and Hojbjerg tried to have a shot but it was charged down and Arsenal looked to break out but Bentancur had smelled the danger and won a throw-in off a red shirt.  There was a clear chance for Jesus when White was played into space on the right wing and he put it wide with only Lloris in front of him.

Richarlison played a ball intended for Son in the box from the right wing, but it was behind Sonny and Hojbjerg ran onto it.  Unfortunately, he lifted it over the top and then at the other end, Jesus headed Xhaka’s cross low but too close to Lloris, although it seemed he might have been offside anyway.

A red card for Emerson on Martinelli, when he was going back towards his own goal didn’t look much but it was judged that it was a stamp on the Arsenal player’s leg.  It left Spurs just over 30 minutes to try and get something out of it with ten men chasing the game.  Conte was about to make three changes, but the ball went through the middle and it was left for Xhaka to drive low past Lloris’ left to make it 3-1.

It prompted four changes to be lined up by the Spurs Head Coach, but when Spurs got the ball in a forward position, the white shirts were out-numbered.  Going off were Son and Richarlison, so the onus was on damage limitation.  Skipp then replaced Hojbjerg to rest him for Tuesday’s Champions League match.  Spurs got a free-kick 20 yards out to the left of centre, but Dier’s short touch for Kane to strike was a little too far ahead of him and it only resulted in him hitting the two players breaking out of the wall.

The last fifteen minutes saw Arsenal happy to keep the ball with even their ball-boys willing to waste time when they were 3-1 up with two minutes to go.  Tierney hit a shot from 20 yards that was swerving inside Hugo’s left-hand post but it was at a good height for the Spurs keeper to beat it away.  it was everyone back behind the ball other than Kane, as Spurs couldn’t get the ball away and when Lloris played a goal-kick to Doherty, he was penned in and had to try to clear it across the penalty area, only passing to Viera.

A late free-kick that got Dier a yellow card for a soft foul on Nketiah saw Martinelli go for goal, but it flew over the top corner of Lloris’ goal.

Spurs had started very slowly and played without much tempo, letting Arsenal dictate the pace of the game.  Missing Kulusevski, who may have been more of a threat to the home defence had he been available, did leave Spurs little short on changing the way we attacked and sitting deep in the first half allowed pressure to build on our goal.

Having got away with it in recent matches, the defeat had been coming and the way the game went, it was close until the sending off and then there was space for the home side to play in.  It had certainly been a feature of their play to target our right back position and while Spurs players were doubling up to stop the ball coming in, it would have been better trying to prevent the ball reaching their wide men rather than trying to stop them when they received it.

Too often when we had worked hard to win the ball, we gave it away cheaply, with players not making themselves available to receive the pass.  It became even harder to hold the ball after the red card, but the high press that usually comes out in the second half didn’t happen.

So, it was another match against a top six side when we have been found wanting.  A 4-3-3 might have been more resilient, as our wing-backs only rarely got forward, but that isn’t a favoured set-up for Antonio.  They way we lined up left us vulnerable and with Son, Richarlison and Perisic having to funnel back to help out the defence, it left Kane isolated upfield.  With Brighton our next Premier League game next weekend, hopefully the approach and the players available might give us a performance that will see us more on the front foot.

The Polyphant

• The Tottenham’s goal was the 44th goal scored by Harry Kane in London derbies.
• Kane’s goal was his 100th away from home in the Premier League.