By Dan Ferguson
Arsenal 2 Spurs 0
Well, well, well! Hands up if you saw that coming.
Not me. I took one look at the team sheet and thought “suicide”.
The team who have supposedly supplanted us as the best team in North London?
They obviously have a seriously good manager, set-up, and a team who (apart from Danny Rose), truly want to ‘believe in the manager’s project’ (God I hate that phrase).
So I can only imagine how angry he is with his spineless and gutless team for proving who they are when the occasion is too much for them. To a man, Spurs were listless, out of tune and haughty. They were complacent and they lacked hunger.
Arsenal spanked their bottoms and it could have been far worse. 2-0 was a let-off.
Spurs weren’t allowed to play between the lines, and time and time again Monreal closed the ball to Alli down by just stepping up between defence and midfield.
The Arsenal defence was old-school. Everyone played with total commitment and hunger. They shouted and called, they bossed and bullied. They closed and harried, and the rest of the team just marvelled and mucked in. Koscielny and Mustafi were immense. There were continuous mistakes in the blood and guts nature of the derby, but Arsenal’s last-ditch commitment to the cause was a throwback to a time when they were better than everyone else everywhere.
So as bad as Spurs were, Arsenal were bold, explosive and relentless.
The key was Eriksen seeing no player in space, and having so little time to create. He’s meant to be everything Ozil isn’t.
After the frustration with the officials against City, and hoping the ‘Gods of Football’ even out their mistakes, do I have any sympathy with Spurs crying over two offsides that were literally millimetres? Cobblers. They can whistle and work on their game plan a bit harder. They were rubbish upstarts who have hustled their way to amazing wins against a flailing Madrid, a supposedly resurgent Liverpool, etc.
But actually, when given a proper game by a team who want it as much if not more, they have little when Kane is off form.
Arsenal yet again prove that they can pull extraordinary results out from time to time.
If they had anything like consistency, we would be talking about how they could catch City, but we all are surely more realistic.
Ozil was fantastic today and super-efficient; as was Lacazette.
Sanchez was a liability worth enduring. Though often inefficient in possession, he really grafted for the cause, rather than his cause. I’m so happy for the defence and Cech today. They had every answer to what was asked of them, and that is all one can hope for. They broke Spurs up time and time again, and some of Arsenal’s counter attacks were breathtakingly exciting.
So again we are directed to the ‘what ifs’ when it comes to consistency, reliability, hunger, desire, character and motivation. Arsenal raised their game because it was Spurs. Champions raise their game like each match was a derby.
Up next are Burnley away, and if Arsenal win that, then the top 4 looks like the most exciting for years.
Well done Arsenal, but for the love of God please work out what you did well and do it more often!