Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur; Premier League Match Preview
If last weekend was the “ultimate gut check” this weekend becomes the ultimate test for Arsenal and their Champion’s League qualification hopes. Last week Arsenal needed a win in any way possible to stop the rot from horrid performances in both the FA Cup and the Champion’s League. Now, a with Tottenham, everyone’s league darlings, on the card, a true test of where Arsenal really are is on the cards.
London Derby’s haven’t meant much over the last few years except bragging rights. There have neither been titles on the line or silverware to be had. Just which club rules the roost for a season with bragging rights. Now there is more at stake. In addition to the normal bragging rights, the winner of this match gains the upper hand on qualification for Europe.
It’s not an easy task for either team as they are both in decent form in the league. Arsenal are on consistent role digging out wins and Tottenham are surviving on the foot of Gareth Bale. Both teams have put themselves in contention for qualification.
This match is admittedly scary for Arsenal fans. Never before in the history of Wenger’s reign as manager has a Tottenham side finished above his club. The way things have spelled out this season, if Arsenal drop important points, it is likely the Middlesex team could finally achieve that feat.
What further makes this worrying is that Arsene Wenger has come out today and pointedly said they have done nothing special to prepare for Gareth Bale. Arsene wants his side to focus on doing their jobs and playing their game. On the surface its commendable in reality it seems a little half assed and worrisome.
Part of any team’s preparation should be knowing your opposition’s strengths and limiting them. In this case – Gareth Bale. It is imperative he not be given room to operate and better still get the ball away on his preferred left foot. If Arsenal aren’t even the slightest prepared to snuff him out then they could very well be on the outside looking in on this match.
Tottenham have shown so far they are very thing without Bale. Everything goes to the Welshman because they have no one else who can score right now. Former Arsenal front man Emmanuel Adebayor continues to show why it was good business to let him go. DeFoe is hurt and is likely to miss out on this match. There may be some concern from newly acquired Lewis Holtby who caused Arsenal problems when he played for Schalke but in the end it all comes down to Bale.
A win for Arsenal would be huge. Because it would create doubt in Tottenham, it would likely revive and energize a fan base and it would also add confidence to a squad shorn of it recently.
Doing the double on Tottenham this season would be the best we could hope for in a season of so much strife and with arguably Arsenal’s worst squad in recent memory. The fact that they are still within a sniff of the hallowed ground of Champion’s League qualification either speaks loads about Wenger’s managerial experience or the paltry makeup of the Premier League this season. It all depends on which way you swing.
The North London Derby is in my opinion more classic than El Classico or Manchester United v Liverpool. United Liverpool is product of the era of United’s run on Liverpool’s history records. El Classico is too many theatrics for my liking.
But the North London Derby in the first division goes back to 4 December 1909 with Arsenal winning 1-0 (GET IN!) It is steep in animosity directly related to the move to Highbury in 1914. When as the myth goes Arsenal moved 4 miles away from Tottenham in North London. Except what people miss is that Middlesex of where White Hart Lane is, was not officially part of the London city limits until 1965. But I digress.
The bitterness between the two has in my opinion subsided on the pitch as players seem more “familiar” to each other. Gone are the days of Adams pinning Parlour up against a wall (hand on his throat) to drive home how important winning the NLD is.
Don’t get me wrong, it is still very important to the supporters but neither side seems to come at each other with the fire of years past.
So it all comes down to this. Questions are everywhere. Can Arsenal pull it together and tighten up their shoddy defense? Will Bale be called on to rescue Tottenham again? Can either team finish the other off emphatically with each side having deep deficiencies?
Well, the answer will be had on Sunday won’t it?
How the match should play out:
Tottenham lined up at a 4-4-2 at the Emirates to take advantage of the duo of DeFoe and Adebayor and it looked a good bet except when Adebayor does what Adebayor can do and makes himself bigger than the game. It all went downhill from there. The question is with it likely that DeFoe won’t feature in this match, how does Tottenham line up? Arsenal have the ability to boss the midfield and create havoc especially without Sandro sitting deep protecting the back line. They must take this advantage and stretch the field to create opportunities. Calls for Santi out wide and bringing in Rosicky wouldn’t be bad but knowing Wenger, unlikely. Whatever the lineup it is imperative for Arsenal to get on the front foot early and not get off it. Both sides have issues, Arsenal defensively make every the most stout supporter cringe and Tottenham just don’t have the talent in the midfield to control games, letting their opponents stay with them. In the end it will be a hard fought performance but I firmly see a draw.
Players to Watch:
Arsenal. Santi Cazorla. While his form has been up and down, he seems to be more up lately as he finds his legs in the Premier League. His performance against Villa (not only the goals) highlighting how good he can be.
Tottenham. Emmanuel Adebayor. Bale would be the obvious answer because of his form. But I am going with Adebayor because the Tongolese forward in his desire to show he was “right to leave Arsenal” has done something pretty stupid each time he faces them.
Projected Lineups
Injuries and Suspensions:
Arsenal: Gibbs (thigh), Sagna (knee) Diaby (calf)
Tottenham: Dempsey (calf), Huddlestone (knee), DeFoe (ankle) Ranieri (knee)
Leading Scorers:
Arsenal: Walcott 11, Santi Cazorla 11
Tottenham: Bale 15
Assists Leaders:
Arsenal: Podolski 9
Tottenham: Lennon 6
Last Meeting (EPL):
Arsenal: 5
Tottenham: 2
Goals For:
Arsenal (away): 1.3
Tottenham (home): 1.5
Goals Against:
Arsenal (away): 0.8
Tottenham: (home): 1
Last Five:
Arsenal: WWWDW
Tottenham: WWWDD
Goal Difference:
Arsenal: 22
Tottenham: 15
Match Official:
Referee: Mark Clattenburg. Matches: 15. R4 Y45 2Pk
Broadcast Information:
US: FoxSoccer Channel 11:oo AM EST
UK: SkySports 1 16.00 GMT
YAMA Prediction:
Arsenal: 2
Tottenham: 2
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Rooney left out of the starting line-up in the biggest match of the season, leaves his United future in question…
If Arsenal had BRAINS and BALLS… a bid would be launched for WAYNE SHREK ROONEY.
When United sent over a transfer offer for RVP, I believe one of our regulars said, if Arsenal wanted to dissuade the offer, we should put in a bigger bid for Rooney!
That would show AMBITION.
Instead, we accepted United’s offer for our best player.
How about we take Rooney off their hands?
I said that.
I said, how about we put in a 60 mill bid for Rooney (the Glazers are money men so might have accepted). And with Rooney snagged as a show of FORCE, we offer RvP a 200k/week contract. No way RvP doesn’t stay.
But ofcourse, I was delusional in thinking Wonga FC cared about anything other than pocketing the cash from RvP’s sale.
On another note, Arsenal can claim the “title” of “last English team standing in the (this season’s) Champions’ league”….
Cue up the trophy shop…. (Winky face, eh)
Fact of the week:
After Mertsesacker’s goal, Wonga FC had ZERO shots on target the rest of the game. Despite being just one goal down!
Try wrapping your heads around that …. ZERO shots on target for 40 mins while chasing a game!!!
Personally, I thought the goal would (eventually) be credited as a Bale OG. On television it looked like Per’s touch would take it a foot or two wide of the target….(Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it….)
To our “credit” we won a couple of corners as we chased the game. (I think, but I might leave that to the stats people.) To our discredit, our opponents tend to be just as likely as us to score from those plays….For me, watching the match play out, our only hope for salvaging a point seemed a(nother) lucky goal….
The bottom line is that as poor as our concede-at-any-moment defense is, our cannot-get-a-shot-off offense is as bad or worse. For me it stems from having no two footed players (Santi, Arteta) who can get past their defenders and very little smart movement and good combos with the remainder of the (woefully) single-footed attackers. We’ve looked OK at times against lesser teams (Sunderland, maybe, before we went down to 10) in this regard, but our best looking assists (all season) have come from our lone center-forward (Giroud) who, of course, should be on the receiving end(!) Our best chance to equalize at WHL was his one-two with Poldoski….Compare that with the chances they spurned (Sig and Defoe behind the defense, Bale refusing to use his right foot for a tap-in, for example) and the scoreline truly flatters us….We looked lively early on and we were pressing hard, but I cannot remember Lloris making a save….
It’s ALL bad…but I ask the pundits this….If you had to rank the managements’ failures over these past 8 (trophy-less) years, how would the list read? What is worse, the poor buys (pound for pound, and don’t forget the bloated salaries) or the (obvious) lack of on-pitch coaching? The grand economic scheme (high ticket prices + sell your top players is the way to survive the football bubble….) or the refusal to make daring tactical changes? Or maybe it’s the performances in front of the press, with the protection of players (dropped guys are “just a little short”) or the endless mantras about “collective belief” or “playing with the handbrake on.” Given that this site evolved from too much hate over at Arsenal America (which seems to host a decent pod-cast these days, at the very least….) and that we don’t have a match for over a week (until the “dead rubber” at Munich…..) now would seem a good time for the good writers to rehash or update their complaints…..
And please, don’t sugar coat it (but maybe avoid using terms like “French Pussies”, which,in my mind at least, are things with which I have positive associations)…. Cheers!
without CL football, and the cash influx that comes with it, we will be going down the Liverpool path… won’t be able to attract top players, and unlike Liverpool, we won’t be filling up our massive stadium with the highest priced tickets in Europe…
Liverpool have some big losses reported, because they have not been in the CL since 2009-2010… hard to catch up with the big boys, once you fall down the ladder!
Add to that the fact that Arsenal don’t spend big on star players, and you have…
empty seats, empty hearts…
…one footnote. We saw today the merits in “not paying Bale any special attention”!!!
One might be excused in to thinking this is Wenger kidology but alas it’s not. Even Fabregas commented on how Barça are so thoroughly prepared before games on their opponents contrasting to his ex-coaches approach… yip that’s right Barça the team being hailed as histories best. So if Barça do that… why doesn’t Wenger? So…is it really surprising that Bale ripped in and slayed our defence? If you don’t prepare for an opponent with a player of rare quality in hot form the obvious question is why not?
I’m sorry, but there’s a lot of this Wenger stuff that is simply a bit whacky. Like I say often, when you win no one cares about the ‘whacky’, everyone gets a bit giddy and it’s romancified. But when you start to lose the Midas Touch everything gets laid bare. The socialist wage structure, the many crap Frenchmen, the fetish with youth, the crap defence that never learns and turns even the very good players into the jittery, the complete inability to sign a great keeper (ever), the strategic shift to metronomic midgit football…
i stated a few years ago that wenger seems to have a revolutionary approach to management. he really believes that he made players like henry, vieira, and van persie great players. bottom line, he was as significant in making them great as he was making yaya, cech, cristiano, ibra, and the other players he didn’t sign great. i watched henry and co. before they came to arsenal and it was plain to see that they were destined for greatness, regardless of wenger’s influence. vieira for france in the ’96 olympics; gold. henry for france u-21 in ’97; gold. van persie for feyenoord in the ’02 uefa cup; gold. wenger has convinced himself, and the board, that he’s a modern day alchemist, capable of turning the likes of ramsey and gervinho into gold as well. anyone who’s passed high school chemistry knows better than that.
steve, i’m sorry but i do believe that giroud is no better than bendtner, technically. anyhow, my comparison of the two was less of saying who was better. it was more about the fact that, first, arsenal paid 13 million quid for this guy and second, the fact that he was supposed to replace van persie. go down the wenger center forward line; wright, anelka, henry, adebayor, van persie. sorry but giroud just doesn’t follow the mold; unless you truly believe you can turn lead into gold. being delusional is dangerous, indeed.
“We were not efficient in those decisive zones, not at the back or up front. We were not cautious enough. On the two goals we played offside in a position where we shouldn’t play offside.” (Wenger)
What’s new Arsene?
That’s a wee bit like saying… “the reason we lost was we conceded 2 goals and didn’t score enough”. It’s stating the blindingly obvious and acting all surprised.
The Spurs goals looked like Arsenal goals from days past. Incisive line-rule passing, strikers in acres of space, and clinical finishing. Bale even gestured to where he wanted it like Henry in his pomp. Contrast the way our attack has evolved. Pedestrian passing across the box. It’s horrible and has been for many years.
The only goal threat we created in open play was a Jenkinson cross from the right which 2 Arsenal players attacked at the near post – but the Spurs keeper reacted even faster. That aside we were pretty lame. Nothing raised the pulse at all.
Even our best player Wilshere looked off colour with his passing game.
Spurs looked more purposeful and a side ‘on the up’. We competed and enjoyed a lot of possession but the goal threat was just not there (nothing new) and you just know the defence will leak at some point during the game. So we looked fine stat-wise for the first 30 odd minutes and then bam bam. Two superb Arsenal-like goals by Spurs.
Wenger drones on about “It is difficult to struggle with defeat because of the effort we put in and the energy level we put in over the 90 minutes was tremendous”. Drone drone drone… yadi yadi ya. His analysis is ‘not efficient’ nor precise. Football is a little bit cruel. It’s the very nature of the game. The game is determined not on ‘stats’ but on ‘events’. And the event situations determine the result. So… you need big players or regimented systems (or a mix) in the right areas to win the events. We haven’t got a ‘big striker’. So goals are hard to find in hard games. We don’t have a ‘big game defender’ (like an Adams or Campbell), nor a big game keeper like a Jennings or a Seaman, nor have we got a regimented defence (like the famous back 5) so it’s meaningless droning on a bout efficiency in attack or defence.
Buy a big game striker, a big game keeper, and a big game defender, and develop a defensive system that can defend under pressure for 90+mins… then you’re entitled to drone.
Completely accurate, kiwi, but to me AW didn’t look surprised at all. To me, relative to looking at him post Blackburn, post Bayern and (even) post Villa, he looked far more energized and ready for the fight. This is good, because a fight he has and (for better or worse) he is the manager….
That he (or we) think getting anything from Spurs away is a bonus is testament to reworked expectations, the “moveable goalposts” Stag mentions. Watching it day to day an apologist (Wenger and his supporters, including me) can see how we got there. Taking a step back or seeing it from the perspective of “we’re paying for this,” it’s not acceptable. On the US broadcast we were privy to the thoughts of Piers Morgan who has taken on the “fans” view and is pretty much spot on. Piers kept it short of Alex Jones performance on his show but only by a bit. One cannon, one cannonball and Piers would be happy, as long as it’s aimed at Arsene….
It’s hard to disagree. Todays match was just another example of the fact that Wenger has placed his faith in players who are not of sufficient quality and cannot stand up to the strain that he has placed them under. Our best players, Santi and Wilshere were easily handled by a disciplined approach and fairly average players. Unlike josh (and others who used to post here), I’m not particularly impressed by Parker and Dembele or even Vertonghen, but they were most certainly the equals if not the betters of Ramsey, Arteta and Vermaelen.
Looking at the squad further we have to be ruthless about the failure of the “like new signings” who now litter our squad. Wilshere spent more than a year out so it’s not entirely unreasonable that he plays like a 19 year old now and again. Likewise with Ramsey who spent two on the sidelines but now moves to RB as Rosicky (whose career is only slightly less ruined than Diaby’s…) comes in to save the day? It was a silly move but it showed “positivity” (or something). Our best chance from open play fell to him and there wasn’t a chance in hell that he was gonna take it….(And he was missing defensively when Sigurdson should’ve ended the match, one on one with the keeper….)
Likewise, giving the captaincy to Vermaelen (who also missed a year to injury) has been a disaster. He needs to be dropped, but as Captain cannot be. How far across field can Monreal be expected to follow Lennon (2nd goal) and where was the leadership and field sense to stop that play or settle the team into regaining their bearings after the first (hideous) goal. You simply cannot play a high-line with a Keeper and Captain who have zero confidence and live (and die) on the confidence of their “recovery play”. The manager, however, has no legitimate back-up at the former position and you can’t drop your captain….(even if Kos is the far better defender…..)
As sad as the defense is, I think our attack might be worse. We look OK against the bad teams when our pivot guys get space to play out of defense and guys like Santi and Jack have time to turn or spot a pass. Sorry josh, but Giroud is better than Drunken Nick Bendtner and playing the long ball to him is just about the only way of easing pressure on our central rearward players and the woeful distribution of our keeper. Theo needs room and it takes perfect timing to hit his runs. At least the big guy tries…. A decent FB like Assou-Ekotto can handle our 100k/week man which is why not to many of us were worried about his contract BS. At least he ‘earned” the start, however. Our highest paid player (Lulu Poldoski) cannot make our first 11 these days because we need two men (Arteta and Ramsey) to do Alex Song’s job. I guess he shows up for practice on time….Our other “big” signing, Gervinho, probably does too. Is Arshavin even invited to London Colney anymore?…..
I wonder, and maybe we’ll see some photos soon enough…. Ten matches to go (plus a trip to Munich where our boys can hopefully bond over some giant beers….) and (as bad as we are) I think it’s still quite possible we could get up for a CL spot. Spurs and Chelsea have to play each other plus they’ve got those pesky Europa league matches. Maybe Sir Alex will rest everybody if they get past Madrid (and others) in the CL, with the league title already in hand. We might actually (maybe) be better than the other teams we still have yet to play (be afraid of the relegation fighters, however). The managers faith must be repaid and our guys should be wary of the “financial resources” we have to (replace them) AND to bounce back with those several key signings we’ll be making over the summer, you know, so that Arsene’s final season (at least) sees us on an upward trajectory.
In other words, we’re feeling around for rock bottom and this (or Munich) might well be it. Or not…..
Bayern are going to skull-drag Arsenal in Munich.
and sorry, but Parker & Dembele are better than Arteta and Ramsey… we could have had both, but we opted for mediocrity, and we got it.
Spurs are a better team than we are, and just slightly better, all over the entire pitch. We’ve FALLEN to their level… and that’s 1000% on Wenger… He’s choosing the players we buy, and as Piers said… (as have I for years)… we started buying smurfs… as opposed to physical and strong players needed to win the battles.
We’re watching and witnessing the NIGHTMARE that many of us have talked about ad nauseum … for YEARS on end.
So there’s our top four defense.
There’s our ultimate gut check.
There’s our reality. Still.
as I have said for about 2 years, the defense is absolutely terrible…
that’s reality… we are making our way towards middle of the table…
as close to relegation, as we are to the top…
but as long as we get 4th, its a trophy, and we’re winners…
(and if we don’t get 4th, they’ll move the goalposts again, and Europe will be a trophy)
where has the Arsenal pride gone?
8 years of failure.
Terrible doesn’t begin to address it. Terrible suggests a grasp of the fundamentals that aren’t executed. Our four seriously seem to have no idea as to even the basics. Wenger sure showed Bale.
i’ve intimated since his injury that we would miss kieran gibbs. likewise, i remember declaring that vermaelen would be truly exposed since gallas had gone. lastly, why on earth would arsenal pay 13 million pounds for a french version of nicklas bendtner?
it’s not about being right but about these highly paid smart folk continually making dumb ass decisions. if it’s plain to see for a country boy like me, as well as the majority of arsenal fans, surely the smart millionaires have got to see it.
the sad thing about spurs is they weren’t any better than they’ve been over the past ten years. in typical spurs fashion, they were ready to get down on their knees and “blow” the arsenal game. this game was a genuine marker of how far arsenal have fallen. for arsenal to be so poor in a game they needed to win…
We’ve spent enough money on the average players we’ve got, to have bought 2 big name stars… and if we kept even a few of our “best” players, we would still be in the mix every season for trophies.
Nacho, Santos, Mertesacker, Jenkinson, etc etc … add up the money we HAVE spent on mediocrity over the past 4 or 5 years… its crazy.
Spurs could be better at every single position on the pitch… not by miles, but maybe just slightly better… who do we have that are far far superior to anything they have?
NOBODY. They aren’t vastly different or superior to us, but they are different and superior!
sure, they DID want to give us back the game, AGAIN, but we sold RVP, and with him went the best striker in Europe, and the swagger that comes with him, and the attention that has to be paid to a player of that ilk.
Oh, except that Wenger said we wouldn’t do anything special to try to slow down their special player, Gareth Bale.
How’d that work?
I really think you’re looking at things through lily white (or maybe hate-cracked….) glasses here, though I kinda do think,on the day, that you have a point….(In today’s match the first goal was gonna be key and the collapse of on-field leadership in its wake is what caused the 2nd….I’m not totally sure you–or Piers–would be happy with Spurs squad over the long haul….)
Basically, I’m in agreement that Wenger’s buys have been (overall) quite poor. In fact, this would be my biggest fault with everything I’ve seen about his “management”. The scouting of other teams has caught up to ours so, pound for pound we’re bringing in the same quality players as the teams near us (Spurs, Everton, the newer buys at Liverpool. We’re also bringing them into a situation where expectations are brutally high and relying too much on crocks and newbies. The power of positive thinking is great but adversity is a bitch.
The first team is shaky and there is no depth. Additionally Wenger has gone ultra-conservative with his line-ups and substitutions. A better game-day manager might have been able to eke something from the match. It’s all too much. Fans will never be pleased and CL qualification (and domestic cup runs) are nowheresville. I agree with Piers that we are a selling team. I disagree that Scott Parker is one of those tall, powerful players and a like for like replacement for Vieira or Gilberto. (Winky face, eh, and Dembele, of course, ticks the boxes better, as does injured Sandro….) IMO, None of these guys are true game changers. Solid players indeed, just as many of our boys could be, in a healthier, less toxic, situation. Maybe the bigger question is why Wenger went for (your boy….) Theo over Gareth Bale some 6 or 7 years ago. Maybe it’s because he’s prettier and he thought he might sell more shirts…..
Anyhow, with complete control over all elements of management there will be no changing of the guard. Let’s hope the next double down (or three) works out a little better…..
I certainly don’t believe Theo is the problem at Arsenal FC…
if he’s in a team with RVP, Cesc Fabregas, Nasri… Yaya Toure, Dembele, Vertonghen (who is 6’2″ +)… then I think he’d have to take less money, and wouldn’t be counted on as the star!
But since we sell all our best players, and we don’t buy strong physical players at ANY position… it leaves us in the position of over-paying to keep what little talent we have.
I’d take the current Spurs side over the current Arsenal side… I think they are a better team… with better players all over the pitch, be it only slightly better.
I wish it weren’t so, but I fear it is…
this is the first time i’ve thought that spurs were better than arsenal. i think lennon is going to kill monreal. it’s a shame that the two players i’ve really wanted arsenal to sign of the past two years, dembele and parker, are both now spurs players. i hope the boys can keep their nerve and get a result, but i’m not so sure. we’ll see.
A powerful Middle Eastern investment group is planning a £1.5bn takeover bid for Arsenal. It proposes to clear the club’s £250m debts and put separate funds aside for transfers, as well as stopping the sale of star players.
(The Sun)
one can dream, can’t one?
I also saw this (as I’m sure most people did) and I’m wondering if I should take it with a pinch of salt, considering the first place it popped up in is ‘The Sun’. If it were true, though, I take it you would welcome the move? (At this point, I think I would, too) or would you rather see our current setup with a new manager?
K non – it’s not just the Sun – there is a story in every major paper. Telegraph had the actual “Exclusive”
our current set-up?
which is what… a selling club who only care about making profit off the fans?
I think Wenger’s time has passed, and he has not changed with the times, is stubborn, rigid, and is has no game day tactical nous to adjust…
but the problems are equally as much from “our set-up”… which is ownership and a board who know very little about football and care very little about winning, at the cost of making less money.
There has to be major change at the club.
ONLY changing managers, might not be enough, unless the new manager can change the course the club are going off the field too.
If it was serious, I doubt it would be all over the papers the day of the Derby. Someone’s playing games, I’d guess.
Some speculation is that it is Usmanov
That’s entirely believable. But what a sad circus.
ya know… watching ManU at the moment, is kinda like watching Arsenal about 7 or 8 or 9 years ago…
you know they are going to score… they always score… and usually in bunches.
just saying… because Arsenal no longer play a beautiful game… or a winning game… or a good defensive game…
so, I have to seek out good football to watch… flicked back and forth watching United and El Classico this morning…
not sure if Arsenal @ Tottenham is worth my time… because I think we’re going to get beat.
It’s almost always one of the most open games of the season. I’d watch it even if I think we’re going to get beat (although that said, I no longer feel much pain when we don’t win these days, too expected so maybe that has something to do with it).
Either way, for a football fan this is a must watch.
El Classico is a quite shite game in spite of the awesome sides taking part. I watched the Swansea Newcastle game and evertytime i flicked to it there was someone writhing on the ground. Pathetic!
It always matters against Spurs. They have the in-form goalkeeper and goalscorer right now, which I think that gives them the edge. A few of our guys have been doing the job, but we need more to step up. Theo, Giroud, Lukas, and Vermaelen all have the ability and need to stamp their authority on the game. It’s all to play for. Come on you Gunners!
P.S. It wouldn’t hurt if Parker gave up a PK either.