A Tale Of Two Keepers

Well, hello there. And what a fine day it is today! Tottenham battered in their own back yard, and thanks to other results an 8-point gap back to Manchester City in second place. What is there not to be happy about?

Anyway, apart from the game itself there's been quite a lot going on over the past few days, and I'll endeavour to cover that other stuff later. But let's first look at what transpired down at the 'best stadium in the country' (not a trophy, by the way) on Sunday.

It was a tale of two halves; of two goalkeepers, of two managers and ultimately of two teams going in opposite directions. In the corresponding fixture last year, a makeshift and injury-stricken Arsenal side were blown away by Spurs - and then a few days later by Newcastle - and surrendered a much-coveted Champions League spot in the process. But this Arsenal side is completely transformed from that one; they handled the opposition, the pressure and the hostile crowd with aplomb, and blew Tottenham away in a scintillating first half performance that reeked of confidence and class.

Spurs, surprisingly, started on the front foot and looked to press Arsenal high up the field, but Arsenal were quickly able to work their way through that and put them on the back foot. And frankly from the moment that Lloris made a hash of a clearance with his feet early on the writing looked on the wall. Spurs looked rattled, afraid, inferior as Arsenal played all around them in midfield and put intolerable pressure on their back line.

It was fascinating and beautiful in equal measure. I wondered if Conte may have considered going with a flat back 4 in order to put an extra man into midfield, but not only did he fail to do that but the inverted presence of ostensible left-back Zinchenko alongside Partey and Xhaka meant that they were completely over-run.

Partey had a wonderful first half and he, along with the ever-excellent Odegaard and the now undeniably world class Saka dictated matters. There was a five-minute spell in the middle of the half when had it been a boxing match the referee would surely have stopped it, as Arsenal sliced through the home team at will, with Odegaard forcing a decent save out of Lloris and Partey hitting the post with a 25-yard volley that, had it gone in, would surely have wrapped up Goal of the Season.

But this was after Arsenal had taken the lead, Partey drew Sarr in, found Saka in far too much space on the right, and with Sessegnon backing off him drove into the penalty area and, almost on the bye line, hammered a cross into the 6-yard box. Cue disbelief as Lloris could only divert the ball into his own net. But, as I've said before, he's got that in him, has old Hugo. 

Midway through the half it was two as, within 10 seconds of having kicked long from hand, Lloris was picking the ball out of his net for a second time. Via the head of Saliba, then Partey's pass to Saka and, with our skipper given the freedom of the midfield, he fired a shot home from fully 25 yards.

 

Here's the thing. Arsenal had a plan. There were no surprises from Tottenham and frankly Arsenal are a better side than them. There really weren't any surprises from Arsenal either, but Conte seemed powerless to do anything about it. Granted, Spurs were insipid and barely at the races in the first half - something we've seen all season, frankly - and they did up the tempo in the second half. By which time it was too late, as Arsenal were in cruise control. 

And where Tottenham did make chances, they were faced by a goalkeeper at the peak of his powers. Aaron Ramsdale made 7 saves in total, so it's not as if Spurs didn't have chances, and three of those (one in particular from Sessegnon was quite superb) were from really excellent opportunities. But from 2-0 up it did feel that Arsenal were content to cruise through the rest of the game.

Where Ramsdale looked sharp, quick and strong, Lloris looked the polar opposite. Weak, and slow. Finished, in fact... ready for the scrap heap. Long may he stay in Tottenham's starting XI...

As for Tottenham themselves, surely this is the end for Harry Kane now? A world class footballer - in a team of inferiors. He must realise that he's wasting his career playing with that group of players, and for a dinosaur of a manager. Free Harry!

Whilst I wouldn't dream of giving any Arsenal player less than 7.5 out of 10, I'm going to single out a few individuals. 

• The sheer volume and quality of Ramsdale's saves actually made him Man of the Match
• In front of him Xinchenko's well-timed forays into Tottenham's midfield unbalanced them and put them on the back foot
• Thomas Partey was magnificent - especially in the first half. He does the work of two men, and it's imperative that he stays fit. There isn't a single midfield job that is beyond him
• And Bukayo Saka had Sessegnon on a string; coming inside, going outside, running at him at pace... the poor kid had no answer. I (almost) felt sorry for him. If Mudryk is worth £85m, how much is Starboy worth?

Just quickly, I must cover the Ramsdale incident at the end of the match. The spectator resposible for kicking out at him must surely get a police charge and a lifetime ban. Ramsdale, as he does,was just giving back what he'd been getting from the crowd (a bit of banter) - and at other grounds it's all been pretty good-humoured all season. But I don't think that we should lose sight of the role that the lunatic Richarlison played in the incident. He's a tinder box. An inciter of aggro. A trouble-maker. He's more interested in inciting non-football behaviour on and around the pitch than actually playing football. Somebody needs to have a word with him. This is the final straw with him for me.

I've spent longer than normal analysing this match, Because it means so much to all of us. Because it's important to understand quite how red North London is. And quite how beautiful the Premier League table currently looks. 

We're in the middle of a crucial series of fixtures. The draw against Newcastle wasn't terminal, this was a massive statement and result, and we've got a resurgent Manchester United next week. Win that, and the sky's the limit... And let's not forget that we've got an FA Cup tie at Manchester City the week after that, and then on February 15th the opportunity to almost put the season to bed with the PL visit of City. City themselves are really under pressure, lagging this far behind, and they've got their bogey team (Tottenham!) twice in the next three weeks. Quite frankly, whatever is the result of those two games will make me happy.

Now on to other matters. And firstly the Mudryk saga. We thought that he was done and dusted. Arsenal were clearly the front runners for his signature, he'd made all the right noises about joining, and it merely looked like a matter of time. But Shakhtar were determined to hold out for a ridiculous amount of money, and Chelsea were crazy enough to pay it. They also more than doubled the wage that the player was perfectly happy with, and have signed him to an 8.5 year contract in order to amortise against FFP. Unbelievable, frankly.

Chelsea... as if the sight of Joao Felix getting sent off on his debut and thereby missing out a whole month of his incredibly expensive 6-month loan wasn't funny enough... Now we have this - an unfathomable, off-the-cuff transfer policy meaning that a squad with gigantic holes in defence and midfield continues to add to its plethora of forwards. At ludicrous expense. Chelsea are the equivalent of the tourist who doesn't realise that he's supposed to barter in a Middle Eastern bazaar; or the guy who hits Buy It Now on e-bay. Mugs. Languishing in mid-table and trying to blast their way up. For the foreseeable future, they are cooked.

Meantime, it's onto Plan B (not the rapper!) for Edu and Arteta. Because Arsenal are only a couple of injuries away from finding themselves in serious trouble. We all know that the squad isn't deep enough. They think they need a wide player, but they have Vieira and LANS Smith Rowe to do that job. Depending on how long Jesus will be, maybe they can live without an alternative central striker. But something needs to be done about the paucity of talent in central midfield; the drop off from Partey and Xhaka to Elneny (not on the bench against Spurs btw) and Lokonga is huge, and whilst Zinchenko can do a job in there it would negatively impact on the back line. Two weeks to go; tick tock tick tock.

Now onto FA charges for 'failing to control their players'. Given to Arsenal only. Not to any of the PL sides that behave in exactly the same manner. There can only be one explanation for it - an unfathomable establishment dislike of our club. I'm sick of it!

And finally I cannot go without a quick word on Bruno Fernandes's goal on Saturday. I won't go into all the semantics and details of it, except to say this: Rashford is two yards offside when the ball is played in his direction. He then runs almost alongside the ball for 15-20 yards and finally gets a shout from Fernandes and leaves the ball, having shaped as if to shoot. If none of that is interfering with play, I don't know what is! The offside decision is, apparently, subjective. Nonsense! It's objective, and he is offside. 

What that meant was an equaliser for United against City, and as we know United went on to win the game. Me, I'd have preferred a draw. But City are starting to look quite fallible - they've failed to adapt to having Haaland in the side, and have gone from a team with multiple threats to having one focus. It's costing them dear. I'm sure that Guardiola will work it out eventually, but Arsenal have taken full advantage at this stage. 

Long may that continue. On to United at THOF on Sunday. Massive game. COYG!!!