Nine months have passed since the last North London derby. Tottenham has changed managers, both teams have changed their personnel, but the score line remains the same. Arsenal has come back again from trailing the game to beat Tottenham Hotspur 5-2.
TACTICS:
Tottenham started with the 4-4-2 formation, Jermaine Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor playing as the two strikers. While attacking, the two wingers Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale played almost like inside-forwards making it effectively a 4-2-4 formation. Once Adebayor got sent off, then Spurs played a 4-4-1 formation. During the second half, Spurs were much more attacking with a 3-4-1-1 formation with Clint Dempsey playing behind the striker, linking the midfield and attack. Bale and Lennon served as wingbacks for this time and it did serve them well.
Arsenal started with a 4-3-3 formation, the same lineup that started their previous game against Fulham. Mikel Arteta and Jack Wilshere along with Santi Cazorla initially outnumbered the Tottenham midfield and once the sending off happened, Wilshere pushed forward further and Cazorla wonderfully exploited the space between the lines. Once Wilshere and Lukas Podolski came off for Andre Santos and Aaron Ramsey, and Olivier Giroud came off for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Arsenal reverted to a 4-5-1 with Santos and Ox playing as wingers and Walcott through the center.
GAME POINTS
The game started off really well with Tottenham taking the lead through an Adebayor goal and Lennon came close to doubling the goals tally when his low shot fizzed past the post. However, the rash tackle by Adebayor on Cazorla warranted a red card and Howard Webb was right in his decisions.
However, Arsenal did show some defensive frailties when Tottenham pressed them with a high line. Arteta was hurried into making passes quickly and this affected their play. Theo Walcott was superb in his penetration down the right flank and did provide some excellent crosses, an area of the game he was lacking.
Tottenham and Andre Villas-Boas showed their mettle at half-time when they were 3-1 down, where they decided to take the wing-backs off and play with a back three. This worked for some time till Podolski exploited the space down the left flank and put in a pin-point cross to Cazorla that was finished impeccably. Santi Cazorla was Arsenals heart and soul throughout the game. Walcott was a very good outlet for him and Giroud caused some problems for the defence with his superb runs.
AVB can take solace from the fact that even when Tottenham were 4-2 down, they were close to making it 4-3 and they had many opportunities to do so.
VERDICT
Tottenham were very good in patches and showed that they are a real threat when going forward if they remain positive throughout the game. They must feel let down by their striker. Hugo Lloris had a good performance keeping out many of Arsenals attempts on goal. William Gallas is a liability and AVB must do something about his place in the team. Michael Dawson is definitely a better replacement for him. They can take pride in this performance; at least they didnt go out without a bang.
Arsenal was not that great before the man advantage, but they certainly made it count and that is what matters. When they attacked, they reminded us why they are one of the best. But all attacks came through Cazorla. He is human and will certainly feel the fatigue some time soon. The lack of a defensive midfielder is definitely showing and it remains to be seen for how long Arteta can play in the defensive midfielder position. The team will definitely take some confidence going forward into a must-win home game against Montpellier.