ARSENAL  3  (3)  TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR  1  (0) 
Date : –  26th September 2021 Kick off : –  16.30
Competition : –  Premier League Venue : –  Emirates Stadium
Crowd : –  59,919
Referee : –  Craig Pawson (Sheffield) Linesmen : – Mr. Ian Hussin; Mr. Dan Robathan
Fourth official : –  Peter Bankes
VAR official : –  Stuart Attwell VAR Assistant : – Constantine Hatzidakis
Weather : –  Mild, overcast, some sunshine
Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the North Bank end
Playing time : –   90 + 9 minutes

 

ARSENAL TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
GOAL-SCORERS
    Smith-Rowe  11m 15s   Son  78m 08s
    Aubameyang  26m 56s   
    Saka  33m 30s   
CARDS
  Odegaard  (dissent)  89   Skipp (foul on Partey)  67
  Lokonga  (foul on Gil)  90+1      
 

 

ARSENAL TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
32.   Aaron RAMSDALE 1.   Hugo LLORIS (c)
     
18.   Takehiro TOMIYASU 25.   Japhet TANGANGA  ( 12.   EMERSON Royal  46)  
6.   GABRIEL Magalhaes 15.   Eric DIER
4.   Ben WHITE 6.   Davinson SANCHEZ
3.   Kieran TIERNEY 3.   Sergio REGUILON
     
5.   Thomas PARTEY 20.   DELE Alli  ( 29.   Oliver SKIPP  46   ) 
34.   Granit XHAKA  (c)  ( 23.   Albert LOKONGA  82  ) 5.   Pierre-Emile HOJBJERG
28.    Tanguy NDOMBELE  (  11.   BRYAN Gil  70) 
10.   Emile SMITH-ROWE     ( 15.   Ashley MAITLAND-NILES  87)     
8.   Martin ODEGAARD   27.   Lucas MOURA
7.   Buyako SAKA    ( 20.   Nuno TAVARES  88)   10.   Harry KANE
  7.    Heung-Min SON 
14.   Pierre-Emerick AUBAMEYANG      
Substitutes Substitutes
1.   Bernd LENO 22.   Pierluigi GOLLINI
16.   Rob HOLDING 33.   Ben DAVIES
17.   Cedric SOARES 4.   Cristian ROMERO
19.   Nicolas PEPE 14.   Joe RODON
9.   Alexandre LACAZETTE 18.   Giovani LO CELSO
35.   Gabriel MARTINELLI 44.   Dane SCARLETT

 

Manager : –  Mikel Arteta Manager : –  Nuno Espirito Santo
Kit Supplier : –  adidas Kit Supplier : –  Nike
Shirt Sponsor : –  Emirates Shirt Sponsor : –  AIA
Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : –  Visit Rwanda Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : –  cinch
Colours : –

Colours : –

Kits courtesy of the wonderful Colours of Football website

 

MATCH REPORT
Another London derby and another three goals conceded in a performance that showed a lack of determination at the very least and left Spurs on a run with some players not reaching anywhere near the level that is necessary to take the club forward.

It was more or less the same team that took to the pitch against Chelsea the week before, but unlike the first half then, this cost Spurs the game without any great tactical change to prevent things going up the pictures.

The first two minutes of the match were frenetic, but play did slow a little although a succession of fouls made play very stop-start. The first effort of the game came when Arsenal played the ball out from a free-kick and played through the Spurs midfield, creating a ball in from their left wing for Aubameyang to shoot to Hugo Lloris’ near post, but the Spurs skipper was down sharply to keep it out and Eric Dier cleared the ball away.

In the 12th minute, Emile-Smith Rowe arrived in the box to slot the ball home with nobody running with him to convert Saka’s low right wing cross. There was no closing of Saka quickly enough to stop the cross coming in and the Arsenal scorer came in with no Spurs player seemingly detailed to go with him.

Ndombele sent Reguilon away down our left and his ball into the middle was behind Kane, but caused confusion, with Tierney kicking it up in the air towards his own goal, but Arsenal cleared it away.  Moving quickly to the other end, Reguilon failed to clear a cross and it was played back to Partey, whose shot brought a diving save from Lloris. Aubameyang shot just over as Spurs were unable to hold onto the ball, because they were having little possession and when they did have it, they played the ball long, but not to anyone in particular. Any early pressing of the home  defenders on the ball had long since passed, as there was too much time for them to play the ball out. When Spurs did find white shirts, Dele was too slow a couple of times in the box and had it taken off him.

Son’s left wing run and shot from a narrow angle at least forced Ramsdale into a save, having to push the ball over the top, but from the corner Tanganga headed wide under pressure at the near post.  Arsenal were dropping a lot of shirts behind the ball and when Kane got the ball and turned away from his marker, he fired over from 25 yards. It was another performance where Kane was not looking to close defenders and this caused problems further back in the line-up.  From Ramsdale having problems trying to play the ball out in his own penalty area, the ball was moved first touch up the pitch and it was squared for Aubameyang to drop back and then sweep the ball in from 16 yards out. Things were going from bad to worse and this side had only scored two goals in five games, so to get two in 27 minutes leaves our side looking pretty shabby.

When Kane was caught in two minds about what to do with it and stood on the ball, it gave Arsenal the ball to run away and score a third with Saka weaving his way into the box to put it past Hugo’s right hand after getting the bounce of the ball after Kane tackled him.

Tanganga put in a good cross that Gabriel had to put out for a corner, but when Son put it onto Kane’s head, he put it wide of Ramsdale’s left hand post by a foot after Eric Dier had taken two defenders away to leave Harry with a free header.

The first half was as lethargic a performance as Spurs have put in for many months. Compared to last week’s first 45 minutes, it was pathetic and three goals was the minimum we should have been behind.  They wanted it and we didn’t. Aimless balls into the Arsenal half were not going to hurt a team … even one as damaged as the Gooners. 

Skippy and Royal came on for Dele and Tanganga, but apart from getting his tactics wrong at the start, it must have been Nuno’s hardest decision in who to remove from the play.

Gabriel wanted a penalty when he went to ground and Sanchez won the header coming in behind him in the Spurs box, but the Arsenal defender didn’t really look to go for the ball and then Spurs should have had one when White took Kane down right on the edge of the area, but VAR didn’t even look at it.  On the hour, Kane had a shot from a yard outside the box, but Ramsdale dived to his right to push it away and from the corner, Lucas put the ball wide off his shoulder. Kane was then released by a long ball from Sanchez at the back and he shrugged off Tomiyasu, to lob the ball over Ramsdale but wide.  He was offside anyway, so it didn’t really matter.

As is always the case, Xhaka was not picking up a yellow card for his persistent fouling and I am amazed that referees fail to see what he is doing. In contrast, Skipp was booked for his first challenge, which was fair enough, but inconsistent from Pawson. It appears that Nuno Espirito Santo is happy to watch passively from the side-lines and does not challenge decisions or appear vocal in encouraging or instructing his players.

Lloris had to push aside a tricky shot from Saka that bounced juts in front of him. The team eventually got them into the match more or less by themselves, as after treatment for Xhaka and Saka at the same time, Spurs went forward and Lucas was fouled by Partey, being barged into Xhaka but Spurs recycled the ball with Hojbjerg moving it on to Skipp, who found Son. His touch back was won in a tackle by substitute Bryan to Reguilon outside him and he pulled the ball back to just behind the penalty spot for Son to beat Ramsdale and get one goal back for Tottenham.

To exemplify our luck on the day, a deflected Moura shot was just about reached by Ramsdale’s fingertips to touch it onto the bar. I’m not saying that we deserved much out of the game, but without a bit of good fortune it is difficult to get much out of the game. They say you make your own luck and that is what Spurs didn’t do in the first half. We looked more lively when Skipp got off the bench and Bryan came on near the end, but for the preceding time, we lacked any energy to make Arsenal worry about our attacks.

The way things are going, it is hard to see how that will change, as the players lacked any sort of desire or urgency in the first half, when the damage was done. Perhaps the performance by the Wanderers showed just how they had been cheating their manager and fans in the first few matches, but like most sides, they raise their game when they play us. It is something that we should be ready for any be up for it … which we certainly weren’t today. For players to wonder why they don’t win things, they should be shown the first half on a loop and question themselves about their part in the lack of success.

One player who could be excused is Lucas Moura who keeps wanting the ball and keeps running at the other side. Some of the others tried to get involved but were left chasing red shirts who had left other Spurs players behind.

With a home match next Sunday against Villa, who are going well at the moment, we need to be switched on and the movement off the ball needs to be sharper to allow us to play the Tottenham Way and not just lumping the ball forward. The lack of energy in our play allows the opposition the freedom to dominate us and when we’re not scoring a lot of goals, we can’t afford to go behind, let alone three goals behind. The defence weren’t great today but were exposed by the failings of those in front of him.

The whole side has to function as a unit and get back to way they were playing in the first three games at the start of the season. Not that it was that great, but it was effective. If we don’t the fans might be hankering for the days of Jose Mourinho.

East Stan

 

MATCH NOTES
Nuno Espirito Santo was managing his 400th career match.

 

OTHER RESULTS
Chelsea 0 Manchester City 1
Manchester United 0 Aston Villa 1
Everton 2 Norwich City 0
Leeds United 1 West Ham United London 2
Leicester City 2 Burnley 2
Watford 1 Newcastle United 1
Brentford 3 Liverpool 3
South Coast Big Club 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1
Crystal Palace Brighton & Hove Albion


Premier League Table 2021-22

Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Points Goal difference
1 Liverpool 6 4 2 0 15 4 14 11
2 Manchester City 6 4 1 1 12 1 13 11
3 Chelsea 6 4 1 1 12 2 13 10
4 Manchester United 6 4 1 1 13 5 13 8
5 Everton 6 4 1 1 12 7 13 5
6 Brighton & Hove Albion 5 4 0 1 7 4 12 3
7 West Ham United London 6 3 2 1 13 8
11 5
8 Aston Villa 6 3 1 2 9 7 10 2
9 Brentford 6 2 3 1 8 5 9 3
10 Woolwich Wanderers 6 3 0 3 5 10 9 -5
11 Tottenham Hotspur 6 3 0 3 4 9 9 -5
12 Watford 6 2 1 3 7 9 7 -2
13 Leicester City 6 2 1 3 7 10 7 -3
14 Wolverhampton Wanderers 6 2 0 4 3 5 6 -2
15 Crystal Palace 5 1 2 2 5 8 5 -3
16 South Coast Big Club 6 0 4 2 4 7 4 -3
17 Newcastle United 6 0 3 3 7 14 3 -7
18 Leeds United 6 0 3
3 6 14 3 -8
19 Burnley 6 0 2 4 5 11 2 -6
20 Norwich City 6 0 0 6 2 16 0 -14