One of my Gooner pals says this game is about Robbie Keane and Adebayor.
He expects a 2-2 draw but he doesn’t know which Adebayor will turn up.
Myself, I wonder whether Palacios will have a big influence. Zokora can run but Palacios looks a better footballer. But Palacios has only been there ten minutes.
Adebayor will be up against Dawson and Woodgate. Dawson’s main quality is his enthusiasm, while Woodgate has talent but has been sloppy this season. He could have been a great centreback but instead he is a defender who has great days
In last week’s 0-0 against West Ham, Arsenal’s best player was William Gallas. Carlton Cole has scored six in his last seven games but Gallas had him in his pocket. On Friday I said to a friend, “Gallas is the most important player in that pitch. If anything happens to him before 1.30 on Sunday, or anything happens to him during the game, forget it.”
As long-time readers will know, I’ve been a Robbie Keane fan for about eight years. He has world class anticipation, world class lighting feet, world class movement. He can can read spaces and flick and volley as well as any striker out there. You need a world class defender to contain him. That’s why Gallas is so important today.
Arsenal is a better club than Spurs and they have a superior team. But that does not mean they’ll win this game.
The most likely score is 1-1. I can’t pick draws, so I never, never, never bet on draws. But the most sensible prediction is a 1-1 draw.
Many Gooners were half-expecting this sort of season to follow on from 2007-2008, which promised a lot for six months.
I’m the first to admit that I lost interest when Fabregas was crocked. But, having said that, I’m really looking forward to this battle. Anything could happen. Any derby can be a draw but I don’t think this one will be.
About once every three weeks this author-blogger-beatnik thinks : Thank God I will not have to write another chapter of The Professor. I hinted at what might happen in the future when I summarised 2007-2008 and decided, mainly for space reasons, to start the final chapter of the book at the Lane :
At White Hart Lane on September 15, Tom Huddlestone stupidly confronted Manuel Almunia when the Arsenal keeper had the ball in his hands. It was a silly tiff and referee Mark Clattenburg spoke to both players without booking them. A few moments later, near the halfway line, Bacary Sagna kicked Huddlestone to send him a clear message : Don’t fuck with my keeper ! Clattenburg’s yellow card gave Arsenal’s new right back an equally clear message : Do that again, son, and you’re off ! Clattenburg, six yards away, had seen exactly what Sagna had done and why.
That tiny incident, which passed unnoticed in a game which Arsenal won 3-1, signalled a sea-change in Arsenal’s attitude. It was significant moment because it would never have happened the previous season. Now that timid Thierry had been sold to Barcelona for £16.1 million, the fiercely competitive William Gallas was captain, and Arsenal’s football was more abrasive as they swept through August with four wins and a draw and romped on through September with six consecutive wins. October 23 brought their twelfth straight victory : Arsenal 7 Slavia Prague O.
Steady and super-quick, Sagna was a steal from Auxerre at £7 million. Then Wenger signed an £8.5 million striker completely out of the blue with no leaks, no stories, no quotes from an agent. Ever since Chelsea tried to gazump him by making a late bid for Reyes, he had never told anybody who he wanted. One day we woke up and Eduardo da Silva was an Arsenal player. The Brazilian-born Dinamo Zagreb star was 24 and top scorer in Croatia with 34 goals. Wenger sold Fabrice Muamba to Birmingham for £2 million on the same day that he paid £2 million for Polish keeper Lukasz Fabianski. That was tidy book-keeping. On the last day of the transfer window he signed the versatile Lassana Diarra from Chelsea for £2 million.
Brazil’s captain Gilberto was given a holiday after the Copa America Final and when he came back he had two rows with Wenger. He expected the Arsenal captaincy and was furious when he did not start the opening Champions League game against Sevilla on September 19, which Arsenal won 3-0. With Flamini in midfield the team was playing with lots of bite, confidence and momentum. This was a new Arsenal, completely different from last season, a band of brothers battling for each other, determined to win and win and win.
Last season Toure and Gallas, two small centrebacks, had played behind Gilberto and Fabregas, who were another odd couple, as neither is a conventional ballwinner, so the spine of the team contained an imbalance behind an imbalance. When the ball went past Fabregas, the defence could be exposed, and Gilberto sometimes had to make a risky tackle near the box, giving away a free-kick. Wenger now wanted that tackle to be made much further up the pitch. Sell Henry, drop Gilberto, start Flamini, turn last year’s lightweight possession team into a high-tempo fighting unit.
Arsenal went to Anfield on October 28 and bossed the game and split the points after going behind when Gerrard slammed an early free-kick through their amateurish wall. Eventually, Hleb played in Fabregas, who toe-poked the ball in for 1-1. Having scored twice in 54 games last season, Fabregas now had eleven goals in sixteen matches. Who could end Arsenal’s 24-match unbeaten run ? The next game was Manchester United at the Emirates, where Sir Alex showed his respect by deploying two holding midfielders, Carrick and Anderson, the sparky teenager.
If you like ANR, you’ll love The Professor.
A classic paperback that took 10 years to write. Read the first chapter free.