Spurs 2 Arsenal 2
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CESC FABREGAS had a virus and didn’t train for two days and started this game on the bench and Spurs had the ball for the first ten minutes and then Freddie Ljungkamp created a lovely goal for Adebayor.
A great assist by Ljungkamp, whose subtle Dutch flick came just after he has been ten inches offside for a nanosecond.
The flag went up and the “goal” was disallowed.
Then Spurs scored after 30 minutes. Michael Dawson knocked down a right wing corner and the ball bounced past Clichy to Robbie Keane, who headed sharply in from three yards, his 19th goal of the season.Another set-piece goal conceded by Arsenal.
Keane was ready for the knockdown. He expected Dawson to win the ball and head it somewhere near him., so he could shoot. The ball came to him too fast, straight at his face, and he headed in : a fine reflex goal and typical Robbie Keane.
Ljungberg did his hamstring, so Fabregas came on in 39 and transformed the game and after that Eboue, Toure and Adebaypor all hit the post or crossbar.
Fabregas provided free-kicks for Toure to stab in at the far post (64) and for Adebayor to head into the postage stamp for 2-1 in 78.
When did Arsenal last win a game with two setpiece goals, I wondered. Was it Panathinaikos?
Before the Adebayor goal, Martin Jol had taken off Lennon and brought Huddlestone on, so it looked as if he was settling for 1-1.
At 2-1 down he brought on Defoe.
Spurs were very average, apart from Berbatov, and the game looked dead and buried.
In 88, when Adebayor’s perseverance took him through on the right, he crossed to give sub Baptista a header for 3-1, but the Brazilian headed well wide from six yards
But, with 94 minutes and 7 seconds on the clock, Jermaine Jenas rifled a 25-yard daisycutter into the bottom corner, giving Lehmann no chance.
It was a fantastic shot that almost hit the inside of the post, after Jenas made the opening by playing a smart one-two with Malbranque.
Arsene had brought on Senderos for the last 90 seconds, replacing Hleb, but the Swiss centreback never got a touch. He was in the box defending against a cross which never arrived.
Four goals and the only one that wasn’t from a set-piece came from a long-range shot in the 95th minute
VERDICT : Arsenal can’t play without Fabregas.
But we all knew that last year.Why does Arsene play Fab4 in every game? Because he knows that his team can’t play without Cesc.
I thought this derby might be 3-2 either way, so I did something I very,very rarely do these days. I had a bet on an Arsenal game. I backed more than 2.5 goals in the game.
The better side didn’t win today.
Jenas admitted, “Second half, we couldn’t live with them.”