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Well, the teams have had differing seasons, but there will be a lot of hype surrounding the last derby at the Lane.  Not sure why we get so worked up about a bunch of South Londoners, but I suppose it is losing its importance, as we are more intent on finishing top of the league rather than worrying much about the Woolwich Wanderers.

Spurs have been playing more as a team and Arsenal as a collective of individuals, who don't always click.  It used to be the other way around, but Pochettino is putting together a side that could challenge for years to come.  Arsenal's play relies much on Ozil and Sanchez being on it.  Other players flit around the periphery, but don't always come to the party, whereas Spurs are much more of a unit.  A fluid one, that allows for changes of shape and personnel, but everyone knows their jobs and are smart enough to know when to go forward and when to hold back.

Arsenal have been uncharacteristically poor at defending and with injuries, their defence could be re-arranged once more.

I hope Tottenham have enough to win this match to keep on Chelsea's shirt-tails, but Arsenal might not be coming into form, so much as a run of luck.  A good goal disallowed against them in semi-final, a deflected late goal against Leicester.  If it carries on "Lucky Arsenal" could pick up a fortunate point.
 

TV
Sky Sports 1 - (live coverage)
Sky Sports 1 -  Game of the Day -  Saturday 20.00

For coverage in all parts of the world, check here and here.

Radio :  
BBC LONDON 94.9FM (London area only), Digital Radio (London area only) &  Sky Channel 0152  (live coverage)
Commentary may be found on
>   BBC Radio Five Live (live coverage)  606/939 MW
>  TalkSport (DAB or 2nd89 MW)
>  Absolute Radio  (1215 AM/MW)

If available on BBC radio, it can supposedly be heard in these countries on these stations ...
Australia (Melbourne) SEN  -  116 AM  Live Transmissions: TWI, Saturday. 12.45 & 15.00 matches
Australia (Sydney)  Radio 2  -  1611AM  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 12.45 Match
Singapore Media Corp Radio  -  93.8 FM  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00 Match
South Africa  SABC (Radio 2000)  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00 Match
Uganda  Radio 1 (English) 90.0 FM, Radio 2 (Lugandan) 87.9 FM  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00 Match
North America (USA, Canada, Mexico, Caribbean)  Sirius Satellite Radio  Live transmission: Saturday - 12.45, 15.00 (TWI) & 17.15 (BBC) Sunday - 14.00 & 16.05 (BBC) Mon, Tue, Wed - Various times (BBC)

Internet :
www.spurs.co.uk   Live webcast  - subscribers only
BBC London - http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2005/2nd/12/live_commentaries_feature.shtml click on link to "Listen to Tottenham Hotspur live commentary" on top right hand menu.

16  Kieran TRIPPIER  (  2  Kyle WALKER 88)
  4  Toby ALDERWEIRELD
  5  JAN VERTONGHEN
33  Ben DAVIES

12  Victor WANYAMA
15  Eric DIER

23  Christian ERIKSEN
20  DELE Alli    (17  Moussa SISSOKO  90+1)
  7  Heung-Min SON  (19  Mousa DEMBELE 79)

10  Harry KANE      

Unused subs: 
13  Michel VORM
27  Kevin WIMMER
14  Georges-Kevin NKOUDOU
  9  Vincent JANSSEN


 

  3  Kieran GIBBS
  5  GABRIEL       (24  Hector BELLERIN 75)
  6  Laurent KOSCIELNY (c)
18  Nacho MONREAL     

15  Alex OXLADE-CHAMBERLAIN
11  Mezut OZIL
29  Granit XHAKA  (23  Danny WELBECK  65)
  8  Aaron RAMSEY

12  Olivier GIROUD       (14  Theo WALCOTT 81)
  7  Alexis SANCHEZ

Unused subs: 
13  David OSPINA
16  Rob HOLDING
34  Francois COQUELIN
17  Alex IWOBI
 

A player who was in the Arsenal Academy and was rejected. A player who Arsenal had watched “many, many times” according to Arsene Wenger last week.

Question : Who won the last game at White Hart Lane between the two sides today and who won it for them ?

Answer : Tottenham with goals from Harry Kane and Dele Alli (see above).

A 2-0 victory kept Tottenham in touch with Chelsea at the top of the table, with them winning 3-0 at Everton earlier in the day. But it was the nature of the winning performance that was impressive. All through the team, there were players who stood out amongst the 22 on the pitch.  While the red and white shirts were anonymous in their insipid performances, there was not a player in a white shirt that didn't shine. From 1-11, or 1-33, they played with a determination and skill that left Arsenal with few chances to damage our position above them and still carrying on the challenge at the top.

While the first half ended 0-0, it did not reflect the balance of play, with Eriksen hitting the bar and Lloris having little to do as there were few incurrences into the Spurs penalty area.

Spurs kicked the game off, with a raucous noise from the Spurs crowd, with a nervous section under the South West corner of the old stadium. Right from the off, Spurs were on their game, with Kane working the Arsenal defence inside the box on the left to fire in a low shot from a narrow angle that had Cech thankfully grabbing it at the second attempt just before Eriksen arrived.

Alderweireld flashed a sixth minute corner wide with a header at the near post, before Arsenal got into the Spurs box, where Lloris made a well timed intervention to knock the ball away from Gibbs' feet. Tottenham kept building the pressure and corners came to nothing, but when Dier put an astute pass down the right side of centre to Kane, his angled drive flew up off a block and spun to the far post, where Dele Alli rose to head the ball inches wide, under pressure from Oxlade-Chamberlain's boot, which was at the level of his face. Surely, this would have been given as dangerous play anywhere else on the pitch and it was not to be the last time Arsenal got away with things in the box.

Tottenham came even closer to scoring in the 25th minute, as the impressive Victor Wanyama broke up an Arsenal attack and played Son away down the left wing.  He drove into the box from a wide position and drilled a shot across towards the far post, but Koscielny got a foot to it and the ball looped up for Eriksen to run in and volley it at an empty goal ... but the ball skied into the Park Lane end off the top of the bar.  It was a great chance and one which would have set Spurs up nicely, but the ball was just too high when Christian struck it to be able to keep it down enough to go in. 

Arsenal did have a shot from Ramsey following a scramble from a corner and it was blocked, leaving Sonny to break away, but we didn't make anything of it.  On the half hour, Xhaka should have got his inevitable yellow card that he picks up most games, when he firstly dragged back Vertonghen as he turned away from the Arsenal waste of money and then Jan got kicked over for being better than the over-priced clogger.  Two offences = ???  A talking to with the Arsenal captain by the referee !  Then Xhaka started limping around having injured himself trying to do the same to Jan, but he suddenly sat down wanting treatment, although Oliver didn't make him limp off for it, which he seemed capable of doing. 

The closest Arsenal came in the first half was a low shot that looked as though it was curling into the corner of the net, until Hugo dived left and at full stretch, tipped the ball around the post.  Gibbs then wildly blazed over the top, before Toby got in the way of another Ramsey effort at the expense of a corner.  From it, the ball dropped for Sanchez, who had been out of the action until then and his curled effort went past Hugo's far post from the left hand side of the penalty box.  Another curling effort rounded off the half, when Jan Vertonghen received a cleared corner just outside the box and took it with his weaker right foot.  The ball was arrowing low into the goal at the foot of the post, but Cech got down to his left and got a good hand on it to push it well wide.

As half-time guests go, today's was pretty special.  The return of Jurgen Klinsmann, who waxed lyrical about his time at Tottenham and his relationship with the fans.  He doesn't look a lot different to when he played and as he cannot make it to the Manchester United game, this was his last visit to the Old WHL.

While Arsenal had offered little, Spurs had made the best chance sin the first half, although they had failed to take them and would it cost them like it did last week at Wembley ??  Well, they came out for the start of the second half like lions.  Victor Wanyama, of all people, had the first chance of the half and went very close to opening the scoring, when he curled a shot from the edge of the box that Cech had to stretch up to his left to paw away.  Tottenham then worked a short corner routine that played Son into space in the box right side, but from a narrow angle, he fired into the side netting, then Kane fired straight into Cech's midriff.  Harry was involved in the next attack, which started on the right, with Trippier's long throw to the forward outside the box.  He was too strong for Gabriel and the ball broke from the challenge to Dele, who was running into the box on the right.  He played the ball back behind him where Eriksen took over, jinked past two defenders into the right side of the six yard box and shot at goal.  Cech was close to him and beat his shot out, but it fell invitingly to Dele Alli, just outside the six yard box, who fell as he swung a left boot at the ball that went in, past a hapless attempt of a clearance by Oxlade-Chamberlain on the line.  The old place went wild.  A goal that Spurs had deserved for their attacking intent, had come form a player Wenger had passed up on !!!

The restart saw Spurs win the ball quickly, but when Arsenal had the ball, The Beast that is Wanyama, took the ball off a red and white shirt and slid it left to Kane, who took on Gabriel for pace into the box, where the lumbering defender completely mistimed his tackle, kicking Kane on the shin and with Oliver in close attendance, a penalty was the outcome.  Again, the crowd roared, but some fans were a little less enamoured, like the bloke in front of me, who turned away from the pitch and didn't watch.  It is something I have never understood, especially in this case, when Kane didn't strike it that cleanly, but the ball flew low into the right hand bottom corner of Cech's goal as the keeper could only sway one way and not even dive to get anywhere near the shot.  Cur massive celebrations, including Poch landing a celebratory punch on Jesus Perez's chin !!  Goal number two by a player from the Arsenal Academy !!  Wenger is a football genius.

It cranked the volume up another couple of notches, as Spurs had hit two goals in 170 seconds to leave an Arsenal side, lacking any sort of shape or desire, a mountain to climb.  It probably didn't help that Sanchez looked like he couldn't be that bothered and Ozil moved so far to the fringes of the game, it was only when I looked at the clock on the big screen that showed 81 minutes, that I realised the played with the ball his own side of the centre circle was the German midfielder and that he was still playing. 

The reaction from Arsenal, apart from a load of whingeing from Monreal, was a weak low shot from Giroud on the left and another from a  similar position from Sanchez, that Hugo took two goes to grab.   Spurs hit back with a Vertonghen left wing cross headed by Alderweireld, but It was bl0cked for a corner by Koscielny.  When the corner was cleared, it came back to Jan, who measured another curling effort, similar to Victor's, with Cech keeping his side in the match once again, with an even better save to tip it wide for another corner.   Arsenal did create their best chance with about 15 minutes left, as Ozil crossed from the right to pick out substitute Welbeck at the far post, but he completely fluffed a volley from a yard out, to allow Lloris to simply gather the soft shot. 

Victor once more broke up a move in his own half and drove forward with the ball 30 yards, before playing it right to Kane, but Harry's first touch took the ball slightly wide and allowed Cech to close him down, as our forward tried to slip the ball past him.  It produced another corner and Eriksen picked out Alderweireld, whose header was slapped away by Cech, who made another very good save.  Mousa came on for Son and Walcott for Giroud, but the only threat to Hugo Lloris was when he had to run outside his box to head clear and when Walcott had a great shooting opportunity, central with time and space and he could only side-foot it straight into Hugo's arms. 

In contrast, Spurs were happy to keep the ball and run the game down.  Arsenal couldn't do anything about it and by the time the final whistle at the end  of this last London derby to a massive roar from the Spurs fans, off the pitch, the away end was decimated as badly as their side had been on it.  Shamefully, only three or four Arsenal players went over to the emptying seats to acknowledge their fans, but most had gone home to get the Tube home to N7 and environs, where they all live.  I hope that they heeded the message many Spurs fans gave them to "Mind The Gap" on their journey. 

The performance by Spurs today justified the result, unlike last week, when they out-played Chelsea for long periods, only to be beaten.  The result also showed the maturity the Spurs side are showing, with Arsenal grabbing an equaliser late in the game last season with ten men.  Not this time.  There was little chance of them getting back into the game and Tottenham's dominance will be of concern to the Woolwich Wanderers' fans, who couldn't stomach the 90 minutes ... just like their players.  Closing the gap to four points on Chelsea, at least keeps the interest going and Spurs will need to keep winning - now nine on the trot - until the end of the season and hope Chelsea slip up.  That's not likely, as Everton was probably their hardest test remaining and they eased through that.

For Spurs, it was hard to select a man of the match.  From Jan's tackle taking everything with it (including Gibbs) early on, to Dier's clearing out of Ozil having taken the ball and Giroud being left in a heap after a strong challenge from Victor.  Eriksen caressed the ball around, Trippier ran the right hand line, while Ben was solid on the left.  Son worked the line and covered a lot of ground, with Dele always a threat to the Arsenal defence, as Harry made good moves and was always looking to test Cech.   Trippier's inclusion over Walker had been an odd selection,  but it worked well and when Walker came on, he had a couple of minutes, before making a point of going around to all four stands clapping the fans before disappearing down the tunnel.

A joyous occasion and one last match to come at the Lane.  Another win over a famous old foe will round of the club's time at the ground in fine fashion, with the three points vital to our battle at the top of the table.  We have one more team to finish above ... what more would be a fitting finale to White Hart Lane ??

Marco van Hip