MATCH REPORT: Arsenal 2 – 2 Tottenham

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Arsenal (1) 2 Tottenham Hotspur (1) 2

Premier League

Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU

Sunday, 24th September, 2023. Kick-off time: 2.00pm

(4-3-3) David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Ødegaard (c), Declan Rice, Fábio Vieira; Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Jesus.

Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Emile Smith-Rowe, Jakob Kiwior, Cédric Soares, Takehiro Tomiyasu, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Reiss Nelson, Mohamed Elneny, Kai Havertz.

Scorers: Romero (27 mins own goal), Bukayo Saka (53 mins, penalty)

Yellow Cards: Martin Ødegaard, Kai Havertz, Eddie Nketiah

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 47%

Referee: Rob Jones

Assistant Referees: Lee Betts, Wade Smith

Fourth Official: Michael Salisbury

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Paul Tierney; AVAR Harry Lennard

Attendance: 60,156

Derby Day again! Today we welcome our “friends” from the other side of the Seven Sisters Road for the first North London clash of the season. Of course, Thomas Partey is still absent with a groin injury, and if we are victorious this afternoon, it means that we would remain undefeated after six Premier League matches for just the second time in the past sixteen seasons, which is certainly something to aim for.

Shortly after kick-off, Yves Bissouma was almost caught out in possession by Gabriel Jesus near his own penalty area, and if the ball had been just a few inches away, our man would surely have opened the scoring today.

The visitors had some early chances, and then at the other end, Eddie Nketiah tried to get in down the left wing, but Micky van de Ven slid in and pinched the ball off our man, sadly.

A few minutes later, Gabriel Jesus nipped in around the back of the visitors’ defence to meet a chipped ball in to him and he steered his angled effort towards the goal; goalie Guglielmo Vicario dived to his left and pushed the effort aside.

Destiny Udogie quite rightly received a yellow card for a bad tackle on Bukayo Saka, and immediately afterwards, our captain also received a yellow card from referee Rob Jones, after he appeared to have said something to him.

After the quarter of an hour mark, Eddie Nketiah got in down the right-hand side after a poor back pass from Destiny Udogie, but the ball was at a tight angle and he could not find a way past Guglielmo Vicario.

After twenty-seven minutes, we opened the scoring when Bukayo Saka moved into space from the right wing and hit a lovely shot that took a deflection off Cristian Romero and flew past the Spurs goalie and into the net.

Just after the restart, Bukayo Saka sent Fabio Vieira away down the left wing, and his cross to the back post was cleared by Micky van de Ven, and then, amazingly, James Maddison appeared to be asleep after receiving a pass from his own goalie on the edge of the penalty area; Gabriel Jesus just took the ball from him and fired a shot over the visitors’ crossbar from close range, when he really should have scored.

Bukayo Saka made some space for himself, jinking and turning the Spurs’ defence, before passing it to Martin Ødegaard, whose firm shot was picked up by the Spurs’ goalie.

Seven minutes before the break, Son Heung-min pulled back the ball, which was met in the middle of the penalty area by Brennan Johnson, who thought he had equalised the scores with a low shot, but David Raya dived across the goal to make an excellent one-handed save.

Four minutes before the break, the visitors equalised through a simple shot by Son Heung-min and although we brought the match to the visitors for the rest of the first half, we went into the break honours even.

Incredibly, Mikel Arteta made two changes at half-time; Jorginho and Kai Havertz for Declan Rice and Fábio Vieira (one injury, one tactical), and with the slight change of shape, the second half will be one mighty interesting encounter.

Five minutes after the restart, there was controversy when Cristian Romero clearly handballed, which was immediately referred to VAR; the referee Rob Jones went over to the pitchside monitor to check and gave the penalty to us, quite rightly so. Bukayo Saka made no mistake from the spot!

Less than a minute after the restart, Son Heung-min grabbed the equaliser after a silly mistake by Jorginho; Kai Havertz was booked shortly afterwards for a tackle on the Spurs goalscorer.

Both teams were actively now chasing every ball, looking to capitalise on every half-chance. Eddie Nketiah received a yellow card for a challenge on Guglielmo Vicario and a minute or so later, our hearts were in our mouths when Dejan Kulusevski found Son Heung-min behind our defence, but thankfully his shot hit the side netting.

Reiss Nelson replaced Gabriel Jesus with thirteen minutes of the match remaining, and despite some clever football, we did not appear to be able to unlock the Spurs defence.

A strong Reiss Nelson shot that led to a corner was headed away by Micky van de Ven for a second corner, which was cleared by the Spurs defence.

We were constantly pressurising the Spurs defence as the match entered the final phase, but Bukayo Saka went down to the ground after an awkward tackle, thankfully he managed to carry on playing. Just after it was announced that there was to be ten minutes injury time, a Bukayo Saka shot from distance was pushed away by the Spurs goalie for a corner which was again pushed away for yet another corner that turned out to be a wasted chance.

Bukayo Saka was replaced by Emile Smith-Rowe with four minutes left on the clock, and relentlessly we brought the match to Spurs, looking for more goals, but it was not to be as the match finished honours even.

No doubt that the neutrals viewing today’s match will have enjoyed it, but we must look at it as a game of missed chances and regrettable mistakes.

For us it was an afternoon of frustration, which was not helped by Declan Rice’s injury which caused him to miss the second half, and the glaring miss by Gabriel Jesus in the first half when it looked like it was easier for him to score than it was to not hit the target may well have cost us dear.

Many lessons learned today for everyone; let’s hope those lessons are heeded in the future.

Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Brentford at the GTech Community Stadium on Wednesday, 27th September at 7.45pm (Carabao Cup). Be there, if you can. Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon

Arsenal look to continue 3 decades of dominance over Tottenham

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Morning all.

Earlier in the week I wrote about how I was unexcited for the Champions League, well today it is completely different. I AM BUZZING.

For those that did not understand my Champions League blog, let me quickly explain: I do not see playing in the Champions League as anything special. Yes, I get the financial benefits, but from a match going point of view, it is just another game. About as exciting as a League Cup match.

The North London Derby, meanwhile, is a different kettle of fish. It is the game I look forward to the most.

Growing up in North-East London (Walthamstow), school had a near 40/40 split between Arsenal and Tottenham. The other 20% were glory hunting Liverpool and Manchester United fans, with a few West Ham thrown in. No Chelsea or Man City.

From a young age, growing up in that area made you realise how big the North London Derby was. It was the difference between going into school on a Monday as King of the World or going in sheepishly, ready to have weeks of abuse thrown at you.

I remember a little run in the mid-90s where we did not beat that lot for 3 years – nearly 25% of my life at that time.

Luckily Arsene Wenger arrived in 1996 (I was 11) and we would lose to them just once in the next 12 years…

Today is what football is all about.

From London to Buenos Aires, Milan to Glasgow. No other sport has the rivalries of our great game.

Tottenham will always be our annoying little cousin.

Last season was the first time in 7-years that we had finished above them. For me, it means very little when we won 3 FA Cups in that time whilst they continued to extend their trophyless run (now 15 years I think? Maybe 14. I lost count).

They still pipe up now “oh you finished above us once 7 years” ignore the 21-years previous.

Last season 23 times we have finished above them in the 32 years of the Premier League. In that time we have won 3 league titles, 9 FA Cups, 1 League Cup and 1 ECWC. Spurs have won just 2 League Cups.

It is probably this inferior complex as to why there is a different perception to how both Arsenal and Tottenham have started this season.

“We’ve got our Tottenham back” is heard from those up the poor end of the Seven Sisters Road after 13 points from their opening 5 games. Four wins and a draw from the first five Premier League games represent their best start to a top-flight season for 57 years.

Meanwhile, Arsenal have started slowly. Not the same team as last year. Mikel Arteta tinkering too much. We also have 13 points from our opening 5 games. And a thrashing of PSV in the Champions League.

In recent years, home advantage has been huge in the North London Derby, with almost every game won by the team hosting. Last season we turned that form book around winning home and away, I expect us to do the same today.

With no Harry Kane getting his usual goal from the penalty spot, I just do not see Tottenham hurting us. Their only advantage is they did not play mid-week.

We will be too quick, our movement too mesmerising, our defending too strong and finsihing too clinical.

I am going for 4-nil Arsenal with Spurs being down to 10-men after around 65 minutes.

Buzzing.

Keenos

Arsenal securing their future with new Odegaard deal

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Morning and Happy North London Derby Weekend. Buzzing for it.

Big Arsenal news yesterday was that Martin Odegaard had signed a new 5-year deal with the club. The news did not come as a big surprise.

Following the new deals of Bukayo Saka, William Saliba and Gabriel Martinelli, Odegaard’s salary wained below others. Declan Rice and Kai Havertz were also recruited in on a big salary than the club captain.

Odegaard is one of our most important, and best, players. It makes complete sense that he is on similar money as the likes of Saliba, Rice and Saka. The 4 of them really are a World Class quartet.

A lot of praise has to go to Odegaard.

After making his breakthrough in Norway as a schoolboy, Odegaard joined Real Madrid at just 16-years-old.

He struggled for game time at the club and was sent out on 4-loan times, including once to Arsenal. He could have quite easily floated into obscurity like we have seen with many Chelsea youngsters in the past – loan deal after loan deal until they are 25 and end up joining a club in League One.

It would have been easy for him to drop his head and start feeling sorry for himself. Or suffer from a lack of motivation having been made a millionaire before he turned 20. So many other “wonderkids” end up with too much too soon and fail to fulfill their potential.

After his loan spell at Arsenal, he clearly realised that being a Real Madrid reserve was not to be the pinacle of his career and he forced through a permanent move to North London.

Whilst some Arsenal fans were calling for Emi Buendia, for James Maddison, Mikel Arteta knew the player Odegaard could become and the man he was.

A little more than 2-years after joining, he is now one of the best number 8s in the world. He combines technical ability and vision with a superb workrate. He is also a leader on and off the pitch.

https://x.com/squawka/status/1705170004398735738?s=46&t=NnmMnpIdEx5zWqnbfbhYSw

You never hear of Odegaard turning up late to training, partying abroad or complaining on social media. He is a model professional and the perfect person to be captain.

Not reliant on a great deal of pace, you can certainly see Odegaard having a long career at the top. Still only 24, you be dissapointed if he failed to maintain his current level for a further 8 or 9 years – Kevin de Bruyne being a similar player in style is still going strong at 32.

Credit also needs to go to Edu and Arteta for this deal.

Saliba, Gabriel, Odegaard, Saka and Martinelli is a fantastic core of a team and all have recently signed those longer terms deals. We are securing our future.

I was concerned 6 months ago that last year could be 2008 all over again – the peak season of a young team. That following them getting a sniff of success, they might do what Cesc Fabregas, Gael Clichy, Robin van Persie et al did and look elsewhere for guaranteed success.

The fact that they want to stay at The Arsenal and earn their success rather than move to a Bayern Munich or Manchester City and be gifted it says a lot about them. It also says a lot that they want to continue working under Mikel Arteta.

All of them will know how much Arteta has improved them. Bar Man City, no other top club has a proper coach that will work with senior players and improve them. Most top clubs rely on players being the “finished article” and their managers do not develop them.

Tomorrow, Tottenham.

Keenos