Arsenal 3 – 0 Tottenham Hotspur

1 – 0 van Persie (43)
2 – 0 Fabregas (43)
3 – 0 van Persie (60)

It was three but should have been double that. Nitpicking is a favourite pastime of Arsenal supporters. Just joshing. Or was I? The empty rhetoric of Tottenham was exposed for exactly what it was; there is no way that the two squads are comparable. A lack of heart, fire and guts. The hollowness of the calls for Arsenal to sign some English players to get the spirit so hyped of those players shone through.

Tottenham showed the guts of a Wildebeest which had been devoured and scavanged in the savannah for weeks on end. Predictably, Robbie Keane’s bragadoccio ended with his ignominous departure midway through the second half, succumbing to injury having produced nothing of note to back up his claims of parity in the playing staff.

A derby win that for an hour pushed Arsenal to second, one below where they would have been had two late goals not been conceded at Upton Park the week before. If the midweek win over Liverpool partially erased that memory, consigning the potential pattern of conceding late goals to the dustbin was carried out emphatically. The opening forty minutes could be described as even in that van Persie dragged a shot wide following good work by Fabregas whilst Corluka deflected an effort by Arshavin to safety. Even in that Fabregas brought a good save from Gomes whilst Arshavin struck a shot wide from the right side of the effort. Even in that the visitors best effort came when Song tackled Keane in the area and the ball rebounded off the Irishman’s leg for a goal kick. It was only even in effort because Tottenham were doing a lot of chasing and harrying of the ball.

The match turned as the interval loomed on the horizon. Sagna took advantage of lackadiasical marking, crossing from the right for van Persie to show true predatory instinct to get in front of King to direct his shot to the goal. Gomes had little chance as the Dutchman’s technique kept the ball low.

Straight from the kick-off, Fabregas found space and statuesque opponents, still enough to have tourists in Trafalgar square gasping with awe at the lifelike nature of the art. Tottenham were simply appalling. Tackles were half-hearted, the description coming through my magnanomous disposition this fine day. According to the official website, 11 seconds elapsed from the restart to Cesc burying the goal past the hopelessly exposed Gomes.

In that time, van Persie managed what could barely be described as a challenge, allowing the Spaniard to dance exquisitly past several Tottenham players to score, winning this weeks Strictly Come Dancing in the process such was the twinkling of his toes. Two goal leads are rarely dropped in consecutive weeks by any side and Arsenal were not in the mood to do so in this match.

The second half saw chances to increase the lead squandered from the unlikeliest of sources. Either side of van Persie’s goal, Eduardo had one on one’s with Gomes; both times the ‘keeper prevailed as the Croat first effort was well-saved whilst the second saw him in two minds as to lob or slide the ball past the advancing custodian. A shame that the second was wide of the post.

If the second Arsenal goal was comedy defending, the third was pure Keystone Cops. Eduardo was fouled on the right, the linesman flagged and everybody stopped not seeing Clattenburg’s outstretched arms playing the advantage. Sagna realised and advanced to play the ball into the centre. Inexplicably neither Gomes or King cut out what was essentially a poor pass; it turned into a fine cross when van Persie nudged the ball over the line.

Almunia returned to goal and was for large parts a spectator. When Spurs did get shots on target, the Spaniard invariably had a comfortable save to make. Part of that was the defence and midfield starving Crouch of service. Spurs had a game plan to make his height count but when the ball did reach him, the Arsenal players learned the lessons of the past, backed off and won the knockdown. Equally the fullbacks both pressed hard to contain any wide threat. Bentley was rendered a passenger, proving that his ego is bigger than his talent. Clichy may not have grabbed headlines with assists but had his most solid game for a while, adept at going forward, the defensive cobwebs shaken clear.

Arsene lost control in the second half as Diaby and Song pushed forward but they got the message soon enough about reigning in any hopes of a fightback. There may be some bemusement in the media about the incident but little doubt it was something that was worked on in training. Both of them held their positions well and used the ball effectively. Diaby could perhaps have done better with his chance in the second half but like Song, is showing with a run in the team, why Arsene retained faith in the players when others did not.

With Chelsea meeting United next weekend, a win was crucial to maintain pressure on the media’s Big Two. Signs this morning that the top of the table is getting crowded with current form being noted and a realisation in their eyes that Arsene may not have been so mad with the odd suggestion that, whisper it, this team can challenge for silverware.

’til Tomorrow.

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