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Key events
It’s kicking off. Something happened between Richarlison and Ramsdale at the final whistle, and then Romero came over to get involved. Now there are around 20 players gathering near the Arsenal goal, and I think a fan has come on and kicked Ramsdale.
Full time: Tottenham 0-2 Arsenal
Arsenal are eight points clear after a win of two halves at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. In the first they showed their attacking class, and could have led by more than Hugo Lloris’s daft own-goal and Martin Odegaard’s pinpoint 25-yarder. In the second they showed their defensive resilience and game management, although they needed Aaron Ramsdale to make one terrific save and a handful of good ones. He radiated calm authority. The first 15 minutes of the second half were fraught, with Spurs briefly rampant; the last 30 passed without too many alarms.
It’s Arsenal’s first win at Spurs, and their first league double over Spurs, since 2013-14. What they really, really want is a first you-know-what since 2003-04.
90+4 min: Double substitution for Arsenal Fabio Vieira and Emile Smith Rowe – how nice it is to see him back – replace Nketiah and Odegaard.
90+2 min “There’ll be pelters and plaudits for the respective managers, but if you swap the goalkeepers, you swap the scoreline (I’d suggest),” says Gary Naylor. “That’s why I’m always calling it the most important position on the pitch.
Gary Neville has just made a not dissimilar point on Sky actually.
90+1 min Gabriel is booked for timewasting.
90+1 min Five minutes of added time. This is done.
90 min Son plays in the overlapping Perisic, who thinks he’s offside (perhaps wrongly) and allows the ball to run through to Ramsdale. That was a bit strange.
89 min Nketiah wastes a bit of time near the corner flag. Bissouma hooks his leg round to make a good challenge – but then kicks the ball against Dier and out of play. It’s been that kind of day for Spurs.
89 min: Double substitution for Spurs Ben Davies and Bryan Gil replace Lenglet and Kulusevski.
88 min Kulusevski’s deflected long-range shot is well held by Ramsdale with a few Spurs players sniffing around.
87 min The free-kick is a fair way to the left of centre, though not prohibitively so. Son steps up… and slaps it into the wall.
87 min “Where’s Saka?” says Steve Kearney. “Have you mentioned him in the second half?”
Look, it’s not that kind of half. Actually, it was Saka’s dodgy pass to Nketiah that led to this upcoming free-kick.
86 min Lenglet is fouled right on the edge of the area by Nketiah.
85 min: Arsenal substitution Takehiro Tomiyasu replaces Oleksandr Zinchenko, who takes the longest possible route off the field. The Spurs players aren’t impressed.
84 min When the corner is only half cleared, Kulusevski gets to the byline in the area and slides a low cross that is kicked away at the near post by Ramsdale.
84 min: Chance for Son! Kane rolls Gabriel cleverly, breaks down the right and cuts the ball back to Son at the near post. He takes a touch and hits a shot that deflects over the crossbar.
83 min Son’s curling free-kick from the right is punched away decisively by the diving Ramsdale. He has quietly had a really impressive game, and moments later he makes another save from Richarlison’s low shot across goal. It was a comfortable stop.
80 min Arsenal have managed the second half pretty well. They’re young but not naive, and they have used one or two of the time-killing tricks that irked them so much when employed by Newcastle a couple of weeks ago.
79 min Xhaka wallops it a few yards over the bar. Arsenal bring on Kieran Tierney for Gabriel Martinelli.
77 min Odegaard is fouled right on the edge of the area by Romero, whose noggin has long gone. This is a really good chance for Xhaka or Odegaard.
77 min I think Spurs have shot their bolt. They needed to score during that dominant spell at the start of the second half.
75 min: Double substitution for Spurs Yves Bissouma and Ivan Perisic replace Pape Sarr and Ryan Sessegnon. Sarr had a difficult full debut, mainly because he and Hojbjerg were outnumbered in midfield.
74 min Actually, Dier wasn’t booked – it was Lenglet for cleaning somebody out. Dier did give the referee a mouthful though.
73 min Nketiah has another shot blocked. Spurs may have run their race; at the moment Arsenal, though not as dominant in the first half, look very comfortable.
72 min Eric Dier is booked for giving the referee a mouthful.
71 min: Spurs substitution Matt Doherty is replaced by Richarlison, which means a switch to 4-2-4. Romero is playing right-back against his BFF Martinelli.
71 min “Son’s been absolute muck this season,” says Yash Gupta, only he didn’t say ‘muck’. Forget GOAT debate, he’s well past his best. He brings the whole play down. Even out of position on the left Gil would be an improvement.”
I have a theory that’s Son’s form is more important to Spurs than Kane, mainly because he’s less consistent. It was the same in Mourinho’s final season – when Son was playing well, they were top of the league, then he lost form completely and Mourinho was gone by April.
70 min Martinelli is booked for fouling Sarr.
70 min: Chance for Arsenal! Eddie Nketiah almost seals it on the break. Xhaka played him through with an excellent pass, but Nketiah’s errant first touch took him slightly away from goal and Lloris came out to block the shot with his chest.
68 min Martinelli controls a bouncing ball with his back, a bit of showboating that doesn’t impress the nearby Romero one iota. He’s on a yellow card, so he can’t do to Martinelli what Brennan Johnson did to Richarlison earlier in the season.
66 min Son threads a little pass into Kane in the area. He tries to roll Gabriel, who reads it well and blocks Kane’s eventual shot on the turn.
64 min Arsenal may have weathered the Spurs storm; life has been a lot more peaceful for their defence in the last few minutes. Time for Richarlison to come on and cause some mayhem.
63 min “There’s something Ozymandian about the GOAT debate,” says Niall Mullen, “as though the fairly recent pastime about which we obsess will ring out forever through time and space. Besides they probably haven’t even been born yet.”
What a great word. I’ll be shoehorning that into articles for the rest of my days, which I suppose kind of proves your point.
61 min Kulusevski stands up a deep cross that is volleyed whence it came by Sessegnon. He was going for goal but the height made it a really difficult ball to hit.
60 min If Spurs score now – and they deserve to on the balance of play in the second half – all bets are off.
59 min “Was not previously familiar with Sparklehorse,” says Joe Pearson. “Kind of remind me of House of Freaks, who were coincidentally also from Richmond.”
Mark Linkous (aka Sparklehorse) was the tortured geniuses’ tortured genius. There’s a really lovely documentary about his life that was finally released last year.
58 min Xhaka is down after a late sliding challenge from Romero, who has already been booked. He could easily have been given a second yellow for that. There wasn’t much contact but that’s not really relevant, so I don’t know why I said it.
58 min: Chance for Arsenal. Nketiah slips Sarr on the edge of the area but slides his shot too close to Lloris.
57 min “Some options for COW,” says Alistair Reece. “Clearly Other Worldly. And erm, that’s all I got.”
56 min Kulusevski cuts inside Zinchenko on the right edge of the area and curls a speculative cross-shot that goes a few yards wide of the far post. Spurs are really pressing now, and Ramsdale has started to take more time over goalkicks.
55 min Kulusevski is keen to take a quick throw, and Arteta throws the ball away from him. That’s the kind of thing that often leads to it kicking off on the touchline. Not this time.
54 min Sarr is booked for a foul on Martinelli.
52 min: Great save from Ramsdale! Spurs are suddenly all over Arsenal. Sessegnon plays the ball infield to Kane and keeps running. Kane’s return pass is perfectly weighted, allowing Sessegnon to slide a low shot on the run that Ramsdale saves brilliantly with his outstretched left foot. It was going in the bottom corner; Ramsdale’s touch diverted it just past the far post.
50 min: Good save from Ramsdale! Spurs might be stirring. Kulusevski rolls Xhaka and plays the ball into Kane on the edge of the area. He zips outside Gabriel and hammers a shot across goal that is pushed behind by the diving Ramsdale.
49 min That’s better from Spurs. Doherty feeds the ball into Kane, who cushions a volley off to Kulusevski. He runs at Gabriel, cuts into the area from the right and curls a decent effort across goal that goes a few yards over the bar.
48 min If I was Conte I’d send Richarlison on to pick a fight. The only way they can back in this game is by dragging Arsenal out of their bubble. At the moment it’s the same as the first half, lots of easy Arsenal possession.
47 min “Having fought through the Jimmy Anderson Wars, I agree with you about GOAT culture,” says Samuel Cardwell. “Can’t we appreciate greatness without worrying about greatestness? Bale was a marvellous player and produced some of the most exciting football I’ve ever seen.”
I agree, but I know that when I’m bored before Happy Valley tonight, I’ll WhatsApp three words to some poor sod: Kane or Greaves?
46 min Spurs begin the second half, with no changes on either side.
“This game absolutely encapsulates Hugo Lloris’s career,” says Stephen Carr. “A great save, a bonkers error, rubbish with his feet and an anonymous presence in his area.”
The state of this
“The biggest asterisk on Arsenal’s position is that because of the scheduling this year, they have only played two of the six possible games against the other top four teams, and have failed to register a win in them,” says Vibhanshu Bisht. “Add to that their tendency to throw away title chances as late as March, City’s ability to string together winning streaks of 983 matches, and the ever-improving form of Man United, and I would not dare to make a prophecy till at least April.”
Yes, all fair points. City often play silly buggers for a month or so in the middle of the season before deciding it’s time to win absolutely everything. I think the key will be how Arsenal – the players, managers and fans – deal with their first blip. That’s if they have one.
“Completely agree with you on the utter tediousness of GOATness (which imo affects Basketball the most),” says Saurya Chakraborty. “I reckon Bale (and a few others) belong in the SHEEP tier (sometimes heroic, extremely exceptional players). PS- I spent an embarrassingly long time trying to get something to fit with COW and got bugger all.”
That’s okay, I’ll just play some Sparklehorse instead.
Half-time reading
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