Arsenal 3 – 1 Sp*rs

September 15, 2007 | 46 Comments

Three unanswered goals led Arsenal past Sp*rs in the season’s first North London Derby.

Arsenal went down against the run of play to an excellent first-half Gareth Bale free kick, but answered back in style in the 2nd half with a set-piece header from Emmanuel Adebayor in the 65th minute. Arsenal then took the lead for good from a cracking Cesc Fabregas goal in the 80th minute, and finally put it away with another from Adebayor in stoppage time that had all the qualities of Thierry Henry at his best, as the Man of the Match, with his back to the goal, controlled a pass from Cesc, chipped it up to himself, and side-volleyed it past a helpless Paul Robinson.

The final score was probably hard on Sp*rs, as they wasted two excellent chances to tie, once when Gael Clichy saved off the line from Berbatov, and once when Darren Bent missed a sitter when he was one-on-one with Almunia.

If you’re going to look for things to worry about, you can probably start with Gilberto, who didn’t look as confident at the back today as he usually does. Also, Robin Van Persie continued his poor form from Holland’s match against Albania with a mostly anonymous outing (1 shot, 1 handshake with Wenger on the bench after Adebayor’s wonder strike). Also, the team scored all three once Rosicky got subbed in for Diaby – not sure why he didn’t start.

Still, that’s nitpicking, and a 3-1 comeback win on the road – we’ll take that any day.

Posted by dwinkler | Filed Under Match Report