Arsenal 1 Tottenham 1
Lads, it’s Tottenham. Roy Keane’s criticism of the club touched a nerve because for so many years, it has been accurate. Nice and tidy, but do they have the steel to win?
Mauricio Pochettino’s current crop are bucking a few stereotypes and they ought to have won this ferocious north London derby. They were the better team for 75 minutes and they had plenty of chances to build upon the lead that Harry Kane’s sixth goal in four matches had granted them.
This was a performance of conviction, with plenty of fine individual displays, not least from Mousa Dembélé and Dele Alli in midfield. But just when only a second away win over Arsenal in 22 years was calling them, they were undone, and it was a moment that surely would have seen Keane rolling his eyes.
When Arsène Wenger introduced Kieran Gibbs for Joel Campbell on the flank, nobody saw the left-back as the potential saviour. But Gibbs got on the end of Mesut Özil’s cross to jab a volley at goal. Hugo Lloris should have done better. The goalkeeper had to do better. But in the same way that he conceded the late equaliser at Monaco in the Europa League, he could not keep the ball out and it wriggled home.
Tottenham are now unbeaten in 11 games while Arsenal missed the chance to climb above Manchester City at the top of the table. But it was Arsenal who were surely the happier with the point.
One of the biggest matches on the calendar in England brimmed with spice, noise and energy, with the desire of Arsenal having been stoked even further by City’s failure to win at Aston Villa earlier in the day. The home team knew what they had to do but they could not do it.
Tottenham had arrived with belief, and the determination that they were not going to be the bridesmaids, as they so often have been in this fixture away at their rivals. It is nice to be invited and all that but there comes a time when a serious team has to make the grand statement and win.
Rather like London in general, space was at a premium in the first half, and it was one of the reasons why Kane’s goal was so stunning. The yards between the Arsenal centre-halves yawned like a chasm and when Laurent Koscielny stepped out in an attempt to play Kane offside only to get his timing wrong, the Tottenham striker tore clean through on to Danny Rose’s ball up the inside-left channel.
Previously, it had been nip and tuck, aggression and intensity stifling the creativity and Kane, together with everybody in Tottenham colours, knew in a heartbeat that this was an opportunity that could not be passed up. His composure was breathtaking. He did not take a touch, rather concentrated on getting his body shape right and when the moment was right, he bent the first-time shot with the inside of his right boot past Petr Cech.
It was full-blooded and niggly. Özil had something thrown at him from the enclosure that contained the travelling fans as he went to take a first-half corner; Rose felt Campbell’s flailing arm in his face and he went down theatrically while Jan Vertonghen wrestled Olivier Giroud to the ground, off the ball, as they jostled inside the area on 36 minutes. Giroud jumped back up and bumped Vertonghen over.
Tottenham bossed the first half and they restricted Arsenal to next to nothing in the final third. Alexis Sánchez had the home team’s only flicker just before the interval but he could get nothing meaningful on Campbell’s low cross.
Pochettino used Dembélé in the No10 role at the start, before switching him with Alli and both of them were outstanding. Dembélé’s wiry control, strength and acceleration over the first few yards stood out while at times like these, it is impossible to look at Alli and realise that he is still only 19.
Alli’s drive was relentless and some of his tricks were pretty nifty, too. Wenger replaced Santi Cazorla with Mathieu Flamini at half-time and that told you everything you needed to know about how the midfield battle had gone.
Erik Lamela and, later, Alli could not find the final ball for Kane in the first-half while Eric Dier misdirected a free header from the corner of the six-yard box just before Kane’s goal. Kane himself also worked Cech from a tight angle in the 45th minute.
It was a gripping contest, which became more open as it wore on and Arsenal came back into it in the second-half. Lloris had to palm away Campbell’s curler for the far corner and Giroud had two huge headed chances, which he missed. On the first one, he stretched and flicked against the crossbar and on the second, having got the better of Dier, he nodded wastefully wide.
Tottenham, however, had the opportunities to have made the game safe, and how they came to rue them. Christian Eriksen banged narrowly wide shortly after the restart and, later on, he fully extended Cech after Kyle Walker's cutback; Kane twice went close and, on 70 minutes, Toby Alderweireld stole on to Lamela's corner to power a header goalwards.
Cech’s reflex save was marvellous and it felt even more vital when Gibbs came up with the equaliser. Arsenal pushed hard in the closing stages and if either team was going to find the winner, it was them. Giroud made his presence felt and he almost nicked it with another header, only for Lloris to turn it away.
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