North London is lilywhite! Victory over the old enemy has taken us 7 points clear of them in the table, and we now look nailed on for a top 4 finish. In fact, we're now back in 3rd place, 2 points clear of Chelski and only 2 points away from Man City in 2nd.
But Christ was it nerve-wracking. Ars*nal started brighter but were undone on 36 minutes when a beautiful ball from Gylfi Sigurdsson found Gareth Bale, who finished neatly with that magic left foot. Two minutes later, Aaron Lennon received a great through ball from Parker and rounded Szcezny before tapping home to make it 2-0. The Lane was rocking. And we made it to half-time with our two goal cushion still intact.
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| Lennon and Parker celebrate our second goal |
I'm thinking two things at this point. Firstly, I'm wondering whether AVB should replace Adebayor with Defoe, as the former has done nothing other than get himself booked in the first half. And secondly, I'm thinking about how crucial it is that we don't concede early in the second half. But that's exactly what we do.
A Mertesacker header on the 51st minute gave the Arse a lifeline. It actually looked more like a Gareth Bale own goal to me, but it doesn't matter, it was 2-1. And I'm not afraid to admit that I was suddenly shitting it. Okay we've had a few wins in this fixture recently, but I've still seen those red bastards come back from the grave against us too many times. I felt we needed a third goal, and we had the chances. Sigurdsson wasted a gilt-edged chance when Defoe slid him into space, Bale missed a sitter, Defoe had a shot go just wide...It was starting to look like this game might have a sting in its tail. But it didn't, and we have Vertonghen and Daws to thank for that. They were solid as a rock back there, and they were doing the work of four, considering how dodgy the two full-backs were.
When the fourth official held up 6 minutes of injury time, there was a collective crunching of nails around the Lane, but our boys refused to wilt. We came under a lot of pressure in the closing moments but our defence stayed strong and saw the game out. When Clattenburg blew it up, the Lane erupted into Glory, Glory, and that was that. How's the weather down there gooners?
Player Ratings
Lloris - 8 Didn't have a lot to do, largely thanks to the dynamic duo in front of him stamping everything out at source. He still looked very solid though. Owned the area at set pieces and was quick off his line to any danger. He made a good save from Giroud, and couldn't do anything about Ars*nal's goal.
Walker - 6 Had an odd game. Defended extremely well at times, putting in some crucial last ditch challenges, particularly one on Walcott in the first half. But he also gave to ball away recklessly on a number of occasions and was very sloppy with his passing.
Verts - 9 Man of the match by a mile. I wanted AVB to go with Caulker instead, and how wrong I was! Made countless blocks, interceptions and tackles, stamping out almost every Ars*nal attack. Hoofed it when he needed to, but showed great footballing ability at times to find space and relieve the pressure.
Daws - 8 Very solid performance from Mickey Awesome. Showed great commitment to the cause and got his head on everything!
BAE - 3 A shocking display from Benny. His passing was decent, but he's a defender first and foremost and he was constantly out of position. He got pulled inside for no reason every single time Ars*nal were on the attack, usually leaving the winger with an outrageous amount of space. If Ars*nal weren't so wasteful, his defending would have cost us the game.
Lennon - 7 Gave the ball away a few times carelessly, but was a constant threat on the right hand side. Took his goal very well.
Dembele - 5 Once again failed to get the partnership with Parker right. They both sat back for large periods of the game which allowed Ars*nal far too much possession. Looked good on the ball, but wasn't involved enough. Also, picked up a very worrying injury.
Parker - 6 Game passed him by in the first-half, but got on the ball more in the second. Gave Aaron Lennon a wonderful through ball for our second goal, but along with Dembele, failed to control the middle of the park, even at 2-0 up.
Siggy - 6 Picked ahead of Holtby thanks to a good showing against Wet Spam. Had possibly his best ever game in the shirt yesterday, pestering the opposition and setting up the first goal beautifully. He did however blow a great chance in the second-half and lose the ball on a few occasions.
Bale - 6 Wasn't involved as much as we might have hoped. He would have been more influential on the left-wing, but still showed flashes of brilliance, particularly his deft little finish for the first goal and a stunning diagonal pass to Defoe late on.
Adebayor - 3 I backed him to put in a big performance against his former employers, and I got it oh so wrong. He never looked like scoring. In fact, he barely touched the ball. His most memorable contribution was putting in a reckless challenge on Ramsey, that had shades of his red-card in the Emirates back in November.
Subs
Defoe - Instantly looked like a better option than Adebayor, buzzing around the top of the pitch, constantly looking for the ball. He was uncharacteristically unselfish in sliding Sigurdsson in for what should have been a third goal. He also had a long-range effort go just wide.
Livermore came on late for Dembele, Gallas came on in injury time for Lennon.
Disagree with my ratings? Let me know in the comments!
COYS!
Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @hotshothotspur
A Mertesacker header on the 51st minute gave the Arse a lifeline. It actually looked more like a Gareth Bale own goal to me, but it doesn't matter, it was 2-1. And I'm not afraid to admit that I was suddenly shitting it. Okay we've had a few wins in this fixture recently, but I've still seen those red bastards come back from the grave against us too many times. I felt we needed a third goal, and we had the chances. Sigurdsson wasted a gilt-edged chance when Defoe slid him into space, Bale missed a sitter, Defoe had a shot go just wide...It was starting to look like this game might have a sting in its tail. But it didn't, and we have Vertonghen and Daws to thank for that. They were solid as a rock back there, and they were doing the work of four, considering how dodgy the two full-backs were.
When the fourth official held up 6 minutes of injury time, there was a collective crunching of nails around the Lane, but our boys refused to wilt. We came under a lot of pressure in the closing moments but our defence stayed strong and saw the game out. When Clattenburg blew it up, the Lane erupted into Glory, Glory, and that was that. How's the weather down there gooners?
Player Ratings
Lloris - 8 Didn't have a lot to do, largely thanks to the dynamic duo in front of him stamping everything out at source. He still looked very solid though. Owned the area at set pieces and was quick off his line to any danger. He made a good save from Giroud, and couldn't do anything about Ars*nal's goal.
Walker - 6 Had an odd game. Defended extremely well at times, putting in some crucial last ditch challenges, particularly one on Walcott in the first half. But he also gave to ball away recklessly on a number of occasions and was very sloppy with his passing.
Verts - 9 Man of the match by a mile. I wanted AVB to go with Caulker instead, and how wrong I was! Made countless blocks, interceptions and tackles, stamping out almost every Ars*nal attack. Hoofed it when he needed to, but showed great footballing ability at times to find space and relieve the pressure.
Daws - 8 Very solid performance from Mickey Awesome. Showed great commitment to the cause and got his head on everything!
BAE - 3 A shocking display from Benny. His passing was decent, but he's a defender first and foremost and he was constantly out of position. He got pulled inside for no reason every single time Ars*nal were on the attack, usually leaving the winger with an outrageous amount of space. If Ars*nal weren't so wasteful, his defending would have cost us the game.
Lennon - 7 Gave the ball away a few times carelessly, but was a constant threat on the right hand side. Took his goal very well.
Dembele - 5 Once again failed to get the partnership with Parker right. They both sat back for large periods of the game which allowed Ars*nal far too much possession. Looked good on the ball, but wasn't involved enough. Also, picked up a very worrying injury.
Parker - 6 Game passed him by in the first-half, but got on the ball more in the second. Gave Aaron Lennon a wonderful through ball for our second goal, but along with Dembele, failed to control the middle of the park, even at 2-0 up.
Siggy - 6 Picked ahead of Holtby thanks to a good showing against Wet Spam. Had possibly his best ever game in the shirt yesterday, pestering the opposition and setting up the first goal beautifully. He did however blow a great chance in the second-half and lose the ball on a few occasions.
Bale - 6 Wasn't involved as much as we might have hoped. He would have been more influential on the left-wing, but still showed flashes of brilliance, particularly his deft little finish for the first goal and a stunning diagonal pass to Defoe late on.
Adebayor - 3 I backed him to put in a big performance against his former employers, and I got it oh so wrong. He never looked like scoring. In fact, he barely touched the ball. His most memorable contribution was putting in a reckless challenge on Ramsey, that had shades of his red-card in the Emirates back in November.
Subs
Defoe - Instantly looked like a better option than Adebayor, buzzing around the top of the pitch, constantly looking for the ball. He was uncharacteristically unselfish in sliding Sigurdsson in for what should have been a third goal. He also had a long-range effort go just wide.
Livermore came on late for Dembele, Gallas came on in injury time for Lennon.
Disagree with my ratings? Let me know in the comments!
COYS!
Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @hotshothotspur
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