Palace 0 Spurs 1
Eriksen 78
A dreary Arsenal game took place at the half-empty Emirates Stadium.
Apparently.
My best friend Doug phoned to say he was going to the game and would call on his way home to give me his match report.
He didn’t call last night.
While watching the Palace-Spurs game on Sky I heard that Huth had scored an own goal in 87 minutes.
SO GLAD THAT ARSENAL GAME WASN’T LIVE ON TV.
At Palace, Ben Davies came in for Son at left wingback.
Spurs had won their last seven league games.
In the first 20, Palace matched the tempo and energy of Tottenham.
I thought Chelsea’s 4-2 win at Wembley had an effect. Chelsea now have to lose a game or draw to encourage Tottenham and that hasn’t happened yet. So I reckoned Chelsea 4 Southampton 2 was a factor as well.
I sat there for 45 minutes asking: “When is Danny Rose coming back?”
Rose is a powerhouse, a dynamic warrior who stretches teams and exhausts them, and Spurs have missed him terribly, even while winning games. His speed and spirit are is essential to the way they play.
Crystal Palace were fiercely energetic & Dembele took a hard knock early on.
If Dembele’s struggling, Spurs won’t be playing well.He did not reappear for the second half.
By 68 minutes I was exasperated and thinking, “Come on! You’ve got 20 minutes to score a goal!”
Then I heard that Leicester centreback Huth had scored an own-goal .
Arsenal had kicked off at 7.45, Spurs at 8pm at Selhurst Park.
Dele Alli missed a chance at the far post, sidefooting a volley just past the other post.
After 78 minutes Harry Kane had the ball and passed infield to Christian Eriksen nothing looked on, and was central and decided to shoot from 28 yards. He took a touch and decided to shoot, so he took a second very tiny touch and…..bang!
His dipping shot bounced and skidded past keeper Wayne Hennessey into the corner of the net.
Would Courtois have saved that shot? No. Would De Gea have got a touch on his very best night? I don’t think so.
Pochettino brought on Trippier for Dele Alli, and then Sissoko replaced Eriksen and Spurs made sure the game fizzled out.
Spurs,the second best team in the Premier League, had scrapped through a tense and physical encounter and the underrated Christian Eriksen produced a wonderful shot to win the game.
When the fourth official held up his board, it was a shocker.Do we really have to watch another seven minutes of this?
Pochettino said, “It was an unbelievable goal.”
He also said his team has improved mentally and is much stronger than last season.
This morning I saw the Arsenal’s winning goal against Leicester.
Monreal’s shot was going eight yards wide when it deflected down off Huth’s chest and went past Kasper Schmeichel.
I’ve been watching Arsenal since 1986 and that was the jammiest goal I can remember them scoring.
Wenger’s underachievers are 6th on 60 points.
Pochettino’s vibrant team are second on 74 points, having played a game more.
The phone just rang but it wasn’t Doug.
It was Louise,my sister-in-law.