Kevin Whitcher
Premier League, 27th September 2014 – Arsenal 1 Tottenham 1
Premier League, 8th November 2015 – Arsenal 1 Tottenham 1
Premier League, 6th November 2016 - Arsenal 1 Tottenham 1
Anyone see a pattern developing, and one not as pleasing as a couple of years of 5-2 victories for the Gunners? North London Derbies have become tight affairs once again, and Mario Pochettino may well be part of the reason for this. Yesterday, he set his team up in a 3-4-1-2 formation, with a nod to the recent success of Chelsea. Antonio Conte’s team, though, are winning matches. Spurs – undefeated in the league so far this season – are drawing more than they are winning.
So far this season it’s been a very close title race, with a small spread of points separating the teams at the top. We wait to see if anyone is going to put together an extended run of wins, and currently, Liverpool and Chelsea are the form horses. Arsenal would have gone top of the table if they had beaten Spurs, but at the moment, there is a lot of jostling going on. Two points out of six from the last two home games is cause for concern, but we won’t know whether or not the dropped points yesterday will have any significance for several months.
What can be said is that Spurs largely blunted Arsenal’s attack by utilizing a third central defender. It’s ironic that Chelsea introduced this tactic after they were 3-0 down to the Gunners and have stuck with it ever since. Against Tottenham, there were a couple of clear cut chances – for Iwobi, Theo and later on Giroud, but other than that the home side were smothered. Walcott’s smack against the post came shortly before the Arsenal goal, scored by Spurs’ Wimmer, although credit must go to Mesut Ozil for the quality of his free kick. Tottenham had chances too – and to these eyes, a draw was a fair result. The penalty awarded to the visitors initially looked dubious, but television replays showed that it was correctly awarded. Koscielny missed the ball and hit Dembele’s boot.
There is growing evidence that without Cazorla in central midfield, the degree of creativity is not the same. It’s a strange one, because when Cazorla does play, you do not always notice his contribution. All we can be sure of is that better attacking moves with greater incision seem to result from his inclusion. His absence certainly hurt the team last season.
Not too many North London Derbies are actually enjoyable. Unless a clear and unassailable lead is established during the game, it’s generally 90 minutes of pure tension. One can enjoy them after the fact, if the fact is a victory or a satisfactory draw. As the home side, the Gunners cannot really be satisfied with a point in any match.
The atmosphere was fairly lively, especially given the 12 noon start. There is a belief Arsenal never play well when they have to kick off before 1pm. I know they have had some notoriously bad games in the lunchtime slot, but I am uncertain if this is the fact they are often playing top opposition at these times. Someone might be able to ascertain the truth of this.
One thing Pochettino has unquestionably drilled into his players is the tactical and cynical eating of the clock, when breaks are needed to prevent the opposition building any sense of momentum. They utilized this tactic a number of times in the second half, and at the end, I suspect they were happy enough with the draw. The best chances to win it near the conclusion of the game fell to them, when a free kick hit the post with Cech nowhere, and soon afterwards when the keeper almost gifted a goal with a dramatic slip up as he came out of his area to clear the ball. It would have taken years to live that one down. It wasn’t that long ago that Spurs fans were still chanting ‘Nayim from the halfway line’ in celebration of a goal not even scored by them against the Gunners.
There was a little bit of fire in the belly, even from Theo Walcott when he took objection to what I imagine was a high elbow, and of course Francis Coquelin was combative. Granit Xhaka did not lose his cool as widely predicted and did not even pick up a yellow card for his trouble. He should have flung himself at the ball when he had the chance of a clean header from just outside the six yard box.
Now we have the third international break of the season. I suspect it will do more to disrupt the rhythm of Chelsea and Liverpool than others, but that might be wishful thinking. The trip to Old Trafford awaits Arsenal when the players return, and it can only be hoped that the non-performance of last season is not repeated. Wenger claims he has a more mature and better equipped squad than for many years. And yet, "We were too nervous" yesterday. Go figure. Let’s see how the mental strength and team spirit look against Arsene’s old nemesis Jose Mourinho.
As for Spurs, the mind wandered back to the days when, for whatever reason, the North London derby seemed more intense, more meaningful. When Arsenal had Ian Wright on the pitch, or Tony Adams, when it seemed to matter to the players a bit more. Like many things in football, it feels like those days have gone. Perhaps I am just getting old. Niggly, although far from dirty as they used to be. Aside from Theo’s near contretemps, and one or two challenges, there was a little to really raise the crowd in terms of passion. Things ain’t they used to be. Overall it was a bitty kind of game, where neither side enjoyed any extended period of effective possession. Typical derby in certain respects, but lacking something as well.
One final word – there was a healthy police presence on the streets around the stadium before and after the game as well as the away fans being channelled away from the area between Arsenal tube station and the North Bank Bridge where trouble has flared more than once in recent seasons. Thank goodness that finally, we are getting some decent policing for this fixture. Let’s hope for equally strong measures to keep fans apart for the return game at the end of April. How significant that match will become remains to be seen.
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