The north London derby is always a special game, regardless of when in the season it takes place and what impact the result can have on each team.
Tonight’s match at White Hart Lane is season defining for both teams. Arsenal must win to keep their faint title hopes alive, Sp*rs to maintain their hopes of finishing 4th. Both teams have gone out of cup competitions in the last week or so, Arsenal at Barcelona in the Champions League, Sp*rs crashing out of the FA Cup at Wembley against Portsmouth. So relative success this season is all dependent on the league. The stakes are high and when you add the return of Sol Campbell to the mix it could be as intense an evening as we’ve had down there for some time.
From a team news point of view we’re boosted by the return of Robin van Persie. Arsene says he’s looking fit and sharp but may not be quite ready to start. Neverthless to have a player of his quality on the bench is most welcome indeed. In fact, Arsene reckons if he’d stayed fit this season we’d be talking about him in the same breath as the likes of Messi, Ronaldo and Rooney. For me there’s absolutely no question van Persie is a player of exceptional talent but keeping him fit seems to be as impossible as licking your own elbow.
The boss says without his injury, and the ones to Bendtner and Arshavin, we’d have a few more Premier League points and it’s hard to disagree with that. Before van Persie’s injury we were averaging over 3 goals a game, without him it dropped under 2. Of course there are other factors involved but it’d be fantastic to see him go through a season without serious injury. I think van Persie will be used from the bench tonight, ideally you want him to get 20 minutes towards the end of a game that’s already wrapped up but I think this one is going to be tight. They’ll be smarting from going out of the cup the way they did and as much as they want to finish 4th they’d love nothing more than to be able to say they put an end to our title challenge.
With no Song I think we’ll line up more or less the same as the team that played in Barcelona. Sylvester will be replaced by Sol Campbell and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Eboue start in place of Walcott to counter the threat of Bale on their left. Whether Theo starts at all remains to be seen – the fact is his best performances against bigger teams have come when he’s been introduced from the bench. The physical and psychological impact that has on a player with tired legs, knowing Billy Whizz is going to be running at him, seems to have a real effect. That would mean Rosicky keeping his place on the left but we shall see.
The situation is very simple tonight – both teams need three points so it could make for a very open game of football. Chelsea fluked their way to another win last night and if we drop points tonight the title is pretty much theirs. They’re almost within touching distance of it anyway, anything less than the win tonight and they can start to give it a light frotting. Sp*rs hopes of Champions League football depend on us a little bit too, not just on tonight’s game but we’ve got Man City coming up. Take points off them and it opens the door for our rivals to celebrate 4th and then get knocked out in the qualifying round to Bratislava Bollockstan.
Yet even if there were nothing to play for, if St Totteringham’s day had long passed, if we were 12 clear at the top and they were already relegated, this would still be a massive game, simply because it is Arsenal v Sp*rs. For those more local to the game I have no doubt it has greater significance, old rivalries, workplace banter and even familial fueding (sounds like a game show, whee!) mean there are three points and bragging rights up for grabs tonight. And no football fan should ever underestimate the joy of bragging rights.
We’ve done very well to stay in touch in this title race and you just have to compare now with this time last year to realise how much more enjoyable a season this one is. I want it to keep going as long as possible. I’m not blind to the fact that it’s going to take some kind of a miracle, like an outbreak of rapid onset syphilis at Chelsea’s training ground, but you just never know. And that’s what should drive this Arsenal team – in a season full of twists and turns and surprises you have to keep hanging on and hoping for the best. Sp*rs might think they’ve got lots to play for still but not as much as us.
We’ve had a week off since the Barcelona game, a week the manager says has been good for the team to regroup and refocus, Sp*rs played 120 minutes on a swamp on Sunday. That’s not to say they’ll be anything less than energetic and fully commited, but if we can use that to our advantage late in the game (heeeeeeeere’s Theo!), then we most certainly should. I’m rambling a bit now, we all know what’s at stake tonight, fingers crossed the lads can perform and get the right result.
In other news the manager says there’s nothing new with regard William Gallas and a new contract. My opinion on this hasn’t changed, I think he’ll be off in the summer and the centre of our defence is going to need a radical overhaul. While the manager has praised the impact of Thomas Vermaelen the bottom line is we could lose three central defenders in the summer. Sol has been great but the manager is unsure of whether to offer him a new contract, I suspect if he does it’ll be based on Sol adding experience to the squad more than being considered any kind of regular, and Sylvester will follow his fellow Frenchman out the door at the season’s end. You’ve just got to hope our scouts have identified a couple of defenders of the right age who can come in and establish themselves as Arsenal players for seasons to come.
And that’s about that. Sp*rs manager Harry Redknapp claimed before this game that they were ‘closer to Arsenal’ this season, suggesting that if they hadn’t had so many injuries the gap might be even smaller. No mention of what the gap might be if we hadn’t had so many injuries? I seem to remember him saying something similar just prior to the game at home this season, look how that ended up. Arsenal spanked Sp*rs 3-0, Cesc’s goal is right up for goal of the season for me, and Harry was left doing what he does best – twitching like a loon.
What has he got?
COME ON YOU REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDSSSSSSSSSS!
ps – If you’re in Galway tonight and fancy watching the twitching in 3D, go to Fagan’s Sports bar.
