ANYTHING can happen at the Lane on Saturday.
Tottenham’s season was over when Seville took them apart in the Uefa Cup and Arsenal are only one point from Champions League qualification. Everton and Bolton should not catch them now.
Cesc Fabregas and Robbie Keane are both doubtful for Saturday’s game, which kicks-off at 12.45.
Many diehard Gooners hate this fixture, as do many Spurs fans . It’s an opportunity for a meaningful defeat and many fans on both sides fear losing the game.
This time, though, Arsenal go there in form, while Spurs have been stumbling of late. Losing to Seville hit them hard, just as the PSV exit devastated Arsenal’s morale.
In Seville, Spurs kicked more ruthlessly than I’ve seen them do since they roughed Fulham out of an FA Cup tie at the Lane and Keith Burkinshaw sent his assistant Peter Shreeve up to talk to reporters after their 2-0 win.
I was shocked that day and I was shocked again when I saw what Tainio was doing in Seville. What a hatchet-man ! I remember thinking, “Gawd ! I hope he doesn’t do that against Arsenal !”
Spurs started well with a Robbie Keane goal in two minutes, then got unlucky when Robinson dived and got the ball but the ref gave a penalty. Kanoute slotted for 1-1. Dawson made a mistake and Kerzhakov made it 2-1 in 36 and it stayed 2-1.
Busy and resourceful, Seville demonstrate organised hunger.They are like Everton with Brazilians. In the second leg they started at 100 mph, pressed fiercely, and grabbed two goals in the first eight minutes. Defoe and Lennon levelled it in the second half but they could not get a third and Spurs lost 4-3 on aggregate to a team capable of retaining the trophy. Tainio got a red card at the death.
Seville are not a great team but they would beat PSV, no problem
ROSICKY has started to score the goals we expect from him next season.
The first goal is vital in any match and the bouncing Czech can replace first-goal Freddie as an Arsenal match-winner. He is a world class player.That is stating the obvious. Tomas Rosicky has been a world class midfielder for years.
Arsenal scored first against Man City.That makes a change. And they scored three goals. Rosicky, Fabregas and Baptista gave them a 3-1 victory.
Gilberto is a good captain. But Toure is all over the place, Hleb has gone backwards, like Senderos, while Eboue will never have the temperament of Thuram, the positional discipline of Lee Dixon, or the steadiness of Lauren.
So anything could happen at White Hart Lane on Saturday. There could be one goal or five.
IN THE CITY, another 210 shares changed hands.
The price stayed at £6,750 .That means that somebody has placed an order in the market to buy any shares that become available. Over 700 shares have been sold this week, which is more than 1% of the club.
Stan Kroenke contacted David Dein first, not the board. That is what angered the board and led to Dein’s departure on Wednesday. Dein’s attitude, apparently, was : We’ve got a wonderful stadium but no team to put in it – I told you this would happen !
That didn’t go down too well !
Remember this : If David Dein had not come to the club in 1983, Arsenal would have been the Aston Villa of London for the last 24 years.
With David Dein gone, and Arsene Wenger seeking resssurances about the club’s future, and pressure mounting, chairman Peter Hill-Wood has been obliged to spill some details.
He said , “When ITV sold their shares they called me half an hour before the announcement to tell me. That’s not right. I asked David Dein if he knew Kroenke and after hesitating he simply said ‘Yes’. We suspected that he knew Kroenke far more than he was letting on and we came to the conclusion eventually that he knew him a lot more.
“Call me old-fashioned but we don’t need Kroenke’s money and we don’t want his sort. Our objective is to keep Arsenal English, albeit with a lot of foreign players. I don’t know for certain if Kroenke will mount a hostile takeover for our club but we shall resist it with all our might.
“We are all being seduced that the Americans will ride into town with pots of cash for new players. It simply isn’t the case. They only see an opportunity to make money. They know absolutely nothing about our football and we don’t want these types involved.”
Peter, you are old-fashioned and that’s why we love you.
But you’ve only got 500 shares. Danny Fiszman has 15,000 shares. It’s up to him, not you.
TRANSFERS ?
The manager is looking for a goalkeeper. He has feelers out for a goalkeeper. Don’t know whether he still wants Akinfeev of CSKA Moscow.
But, amazingly, he doesn’t have feelers out for players in any other positions.
Mainly because he can’t afford them.
But partly because he prefers to sign kids anyway.
If you’re one of those fans who looks at Arsenal through rose-tinted spectacles, keep telling yourself that this season is one in the bank.