Tottenham Hotspur   2    Arsenal   2      (Half-time score : 2-0)

Robinson (c)

Chimbonda
Dawson
Gardner
Assou-Ekotto

Lennon
Zokora
Huddlestone
Malbranque

Berbatov (Keane 18)
Defoe (Mido 81)

Unused subs: 
Cerny
YP Lee
Ghaly 

Almunia

Hoyte
Toure (c)
Senderos
Traore

Denilson
Fabregas
Diaby (Hleb 56 (Flamini 81))
Walcott

Aliadiere (Eboue 60)
Julio Baptista

Unused subs: 
Poom
Randall

Berbatov 12
Baptista (o.g.) 21

Baptista 64
Baptista 77

     
Defoe (foul) 34

  

     
Baptista (foul) 30
Toure (foul) 32
Traore (foul) 81  

Martin Jol could not have asked for a better start to the game, but what appeared to be a lack of tactical nous let the initiative slip to the visitors, whop took full advantage, as Tottenham hardly got out of their own half in the second period.

Within two minutes of the start, Aaron Lennon was ripping up the right wing to give Traore the first of a nightful of runs past him with great ease.  Nut-megging Diaby, Lennon put in a fierce low cross that Hoyte just managed to clear before it reached Dimitar Berbatov inside the six yard box.  When Berba did get on the end of the ball he nearly scored.  In the fourth minute, he played a one-two with Defoe and stretching to get the ball, he took it past Diaby and struck a low shot that had Almunia rooted to the spot, but hit the foot of the post and went wide.

In what was a frantic start, the ball was suddenly at the Spurs end and Fabregas managed to get on the end of a ball into the Tottenham penalty area and he took it past Robinson as he came out to claim the ball.  Just as it looked like he would put it into the gaping net, he found himself too wide and crossed the ball, which was cleared straight to Denilson, who hit a shot that Michael Dawson threw himself in the way of to take the ball wide of goal.  Hardly having time to draw breath, Spurs attacked and from a deflected Berbatov shot got a corner, which was headed towards goal, but hit a defender with claims for handball ringing out, but to no avail. 

Within two minutes, Spurs were ahead.  Some neat work from Malbranque worked the ball out to the right, where Jermain Defoe popped up on the wing, putting in a dinked cross, which looked harmless enough.  That was until Toure ducked underneath it and Almunia had stayed stuck on his line, leaving Berbatov the simple task of ghosting between them and nodding the ball past the static Arsenal keeper from close range.  It was just the early goal that Tottenham needed to settle them down.

Not sitting back on the goal lead, Spurs went looking for more.  Defoe smacked a shot that Almunia blocked but could not hold, leaving Senderos to mis-kick it to Berba, whose shot was also blocked and then Malbranque volleyed the loose ball over from just outside the area.  And that was the last action that Berbatov was involved in, leaving Tottenham to bring on Keane instead of Mido, to have the two small men up front and the impact of losing the Bulgarian so early was one which might have cost us the win.

Initially, it didn't seem to have done us much harm, as Huddlestone fired in a low free kick from the left wing in the 20th minute.  Dawson raced to the near post, but unable to do much with it, he jumped over the ball, leaving it to be dragged back into his own goal by Baptista leaving Almunia helpless.  2-0 with 20 minutes gone and Spurs were in the driving seat.  But somewhere along the road, the plan crashed.

It might have been the cynical way that Arsenal defenders chose to hack Lennon down when he skipped past them and Toure took the yellow rather than allow Aaron to burst clean through on goal.  That came after a late tackle by Baptista on Zokora saw him similarly punished, while Defoe got a caution for his first tackle, a late one on Denilson, who had got away with a similar challenge early on in the game.  A number of people have said that Graham Poll is just out on the pitch for himself and thus makes a lot of decisions that do not show any consistency.  A scythe down from behind by Traore on Defoe saw him get a ticking off, but this is surely a booking ?  Not in Mr. Poll's eyes.  Mind you, when it was reported the next day that he had to ask someone from Sky TV who should kick off the second half, is it surprising that some fans have little faith in him officiating matches.

When Lennon was allowed to kick the ball without getting kicked himself, he played in a low corner to the near post, Fabregas sliced his clearance and the ball flew into Almunia's midriff without him knowing a great deal about it.  As the game came to the end of the first half, Dawson flicked a header wide from Huddlestone's cross and Arsenal could have got back into the match when a corner fell to Baptista, but he mis-kicked right in front of goal and the chance vanished.

There was a period in the middle of the first half when Spurs looked happy to drop off to their 18 yard line and let Arsenal come at them.  It led to a period of pressure that saw the white shirts clear the ball to nobody in particular and with Berbatov off the pitch, there was a lack of a target to play the ball out.  Spurs defenders kept giving the ball away and inviting the opposition to attack them.  This perhaps led to their downfall.

From the start of the second half, Arsenal looked willing to have a go at the Tottenham defence.  With Spurs dropping back into their own last third, Fabregas found the time to dictate the play and the space opened up for his colleagues to find room to get around the home players.  With Malbranque having put in a hard shift, Lennon being starved of the ball, Zokora not playing his normal running game and with Huddlestone limping, but carrying on, after two late tackles from Fabregas caught him on the ankle, the Arsenal midfield took over.  The real change in the flow of the game came ten minutes into the second half, when Hleb came on and then five minutes later when Eboue was introduced.

This gave the visitors the opportunity to use two players who could run at a tired midfield and push onto the Tottenham back four.   Robinson has come in for some criticism of late and he didn't help his case when he came to punch a Fabregas free-kick and missed it; the ball hitting a head on it's way towards goal, where Michael Dawson nodded it off the line.  However, Paul was in the right place a minute later when Baptista's free-kick fell nicely for the little Spanish midfielder to head at goal, but he couldn't get any power behind it and it was straight at the England goalie.

But two minutes after, Arsenal were back in the game.  Eboue got in behind Assou-Ekotto and his low ball into the area got to Baptista and his close range finish, after the ball had bobbled about made it 2-1.

The pendulum swung Arsenal's way and Robinson had to dive full-length to hold a low Fabregas shot, but that was just before he had a rush of blood and rushed off his line towards Hoyte as he got behind Benoit again.  This time the ball reached Baptista in space in front of goal and Dawson's despairing effort could not reach the ball before it hit the net to make it all square.  So, the Brazilian competed an interesting hat-trick, but was probably lucky to still be on the pitch, as after his initial booking, he fouled Defoe again and once more Poll decided to talk instead of wave the yellow again.  Perhaps he had thought he got enough stick the last time he sent someone off at the Lane ??

Spurs did try and get back into the game, but with Lennon now holding the back of his thigh, his effectiveness was limited.  He was keen to come off, although Jol resisted all signs that the winger would want to be substituted.  Chimbonda picked out a neat pass through to Defoe, who went on and hit a shot that looked like it might just clear the diving Almunia, but the keeper got a touch on it and then it was cleared by an Arsenal defender.  With Keane having a bit of a mare, it was a real surprise when Mido came on for Defoe, who had looked lively.

Lennon kept giving problems to the Arsenal defence and another cynical chop when he glided past Traore would have seen him sent off had Poll booked him for his earlier offence as well as this one.  However, nothing came of that free-kick as Assou-Ekotto curled it over the bar.  The closest to a goal was always likely to come form Arsenal and Fabregas put in a cross from the right deep to the far post and it fell to the anonymous Theo Walcott, who should have done better than volley it five yards wide from close range.  Lennon showed why he is the more natural choice for England, as he skipped past Traore and he put it back into Keane's path.  Robbie knocked in a low cross to the near post and it flew across the goal with Mido behind the play.  It was just another one of the chances we made that just wasn't played quite right.

The final pass on the night was lacking and the early missed chances left us rueing the opportunities we had to kill off Arsenal.  At the moment, we have to face it, we are still a way off the top four sides.

There is still the second leg to come, but away from home, where we play like rabbits in the headlights and at a ground where we got embarrassed last time out, as we forgot to turn up.  Maybe we can get there early and start playing before the Gooners know what has hit them ?

Michael O'Brien