Arsenal (Home) 06.12.2020

Colours : –

[worn with red socks with white turnover and 3 adidas rings on turnover]

A game that 2,000 fans had been waiting for a long time didn’t disappoint despite the naysayers who decried Tottenham’s defensive display in the second half to protect their 2-0 lead that consigned Arsenal to the 15th place in the Premier League, while Spurs looked down on them form the top of the table. 

Going into the game, Spurs were pleased to have Hugo Lloris between the sticks, when it was thought he might miss out with illness, which did for Tanguy Ndombele.  Toby Alderweireld made a rapid recovery from his groin injury to return in the middle of the defence, while Harry Winks was called onto the bench late on as Ndombele’s replacement.

In the first minute Partey started whingeing that he had been elbowed and then Xhaka through an NFL block on Kane as he looked to come inside to shoot, which amazingly failed to be flowed by a yellow card. Unfortunately, Dier’s free-kick sailed over the bar.  The referee’s inconsistency was obvious from the start. Five minutes in, Lo Celso was knocked over and play went on for Lacazette to be knocked over and a free-kick was awarded. From the clearance, Saka tried a shot that went high into the fans behind the goal. Unfortunately, his whistle was the dominant noise, despite the noise coming from the South Stand. Arsenal were forcing the pace and the disjointed flow of the game suited them better, but they only had Partey’s shot after eleven minutes to show for it, which was closer to the corner flag than the goal.

Almost out of nothing, Spurs broke on Arsenal when Dier headed out a cross, Bergwijn headed on and Harry Kane played a pass to his left to Heung-Min Son 10 yards inside the opposition half. He ran the ball forward, coming inside as the  defenders backed off and from 25 yards, he bent a superb effort way beyond Leno’s dive and inside his left-hand post. It was a marvellously struck effort, but a fine move that created a goal from our own penalty area saw Arsenal fear the pace of our attack and create space for Son’s finish.

When the Gooners lost the ball, they got eleven men back behind the ball inside their defensive third, but Dier lifted the ball over the defensive to give Reguilon time on the ball and his cross was cleared, but Hojbjerg was first to it and struck a shot on target from 25 yards that stung Leno’s hands. On the occasions Arsenal did find space in wide positions, their crosses failed to make Spurs pay, with them wither being cut out of cleared away.

Tottenham’s pressing was paying off with Lacazette and Partey moaning when they were robbed of the ball and Giovani Lo Celso broke away and won a corner, when looking to find Kane in the middle.  It was a bit frantic ten minutes from the break, when Arsenal were given a free-kick after a flurry of tackles, but it wasn’t anything that made a chance, as Saka went down when Sissoko headed it away and wanted a penalty, although it was never going to be one. They wanted another when a cross bounced up and hit Regi on the shoulder.

Atkinson really is a joke of a referee, when he booked Lo Celso for a second foul, having allowed Xhaka three bad tackles without eveb a word, then gave a free-kick just outside the box when Lo Celso won the ball and Lacazette kicked our midfielder. Ridiculous. Luckily, Harry Kane was on the end of the wall to head it away for a corner and was there when the ball came in following a clearance.

Once more, Tottenham hit Arsenal when they least expected it. A ball from Lacazette played in Bellerin on the right and his cross fell behind Aubameyang, allowing Aurier to pick it off. He played the ball forward to Lo Celso, who ran the ball up and found Son on the edge of the box. He stepped over the ball and played it left to Kane, who fired high into the net from a narrow angle with Leno helpless. It was another devastating break that caught Arsenal up against four Spurs player, with Partey having departed by walking off the pitch in the build-up. You could understand if he walked out of the club, having to play with this rabble. The link up between Son and Kane is sublime with one setting up the other with pleasing regularity and a goal that came barely before the restart could be taken was a very good time to double the advantage. Added to that Partey had to leave the field and Ceballos came on only to have to go down the tunnel more or less straight away, as the half-time whistle went.

The fact that both goals had originated in our own penalty area indicated that there was a lack of cohesiveness in the Arsenal defence, as they were left with only two defenders for the second goal.

 An early free-kick in the second half saw Saka play a pacy ball in, but Lloris took the ball well low down and held onto it. Then Tierney put in a cross from the left that Aubameyang headed it over the bar as Spurs started the half sitting deeper. When Bellerin put another cross just in front of Lacazette, Tottenham got it and looked to break away again, with Sissoko putting a cross towards Bergwijn that Ceballos intercepted and cushioned back to his keeper from a yard away. No back-pass given by Atkinson ! He then spoke to Sissoko for knocking over Saka, when other players had not been spoken to for worse challenges. In fact, every time an Arsenal player hit the turf, a free-kick was given, usually when accompanied by a scream. 

Bergwijn turned Gabriel and Holding in the box, winning a corner, that Son took and it came back to him twice, but he couldn’t create anything with the possession. More free-kicks for Arsenal came and went, then when Willian took down a high ball in the box, but hooked it way over the top. Spurs were getting a little sloppy with their passing, allowing Arsenal to take the majority of the possession, but the well-drilled structure that Mourinho has put in place denied them space and the ability to make much of it. Lloris was brought into action, making a save low down to his right when Bellerin’s cross was headed at goal by Lacazzette. Tierney took Bergwijn down way off the ball, but apart from a free-kick Atkinson did nothing more to punish the red shirt involved.

Ben Davies replaced Lo Celso, as Jose changed things around, with three centre-halves and two wing backs put into place, as Arsenal had been bombarding the box with crosses. It took the referee 75 minutes to pull a yellow card out for Xhaka when he made a crude tackle on Son from behind. By that point he should have had a card already and that would have seen him walk. 

Things didn’t really change much. Arsenal had 70 odd percent of possession and then Lacazette cynically bundled Son over from behind as he ran at the defence. This time Atkinson brought out a yellow card, for something equivalent to Xhaka’s first offence.

Spurs were defending for all they were worth and Aurier did well to take the ball away from Lacazette who was behind him. Saka headed over from a cross that was a little too high and Lacazette squirted a weak shot wide of the goal from inside the box, but the constant pressure failed to make anything like a clear scoring chance. Some of that was because they were not good enough, but much of the credit should go to the way Tottenham defended as a team. Toby made a great sliding block where Aubameyang got put in on the left and more often than not Kane was back in the box heading away corners, Son and Bergwijn funnelling back and the midfielders making sure thatthere were no opportunities to see the whites of the posts.  No too long ago, the defence was being pilloried for letting in too many goals and now they are a strong unit, they are getting criticised for keeping clean sheets.  You can’t win can you ?  Well … not if you are an Arsenal manager that is !

Arteta was whingeing on after the match about being the better team because they slung in 44 crosses, but who to ? Very few found their target and this is apparently a common theme in their games recently. With nobody able to turn the crosses into goals, isn’t this the definition of insanity ?

Keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result ? Well, you don’t have to be mad to support the Gooners, but it looks like it might definitely help !

Who cares about their problems ? We have enough of our own, as still being top of the table comes with new pressures and that is what the squad have to handle. Palace are up next and they won 5-1 away at WBA today, although it was only against ten men after 34 minutes. All games will be tough from now on, so Jose has to make sure the team rise to the challenge.

Pete Stachio

Harry Kane scores the 100th home goal of his career and the 250th goal of his career for club and country.

Harry Kane became the leading goal-scorer in the history of meetings between the two clubs.