Good Old Arsenal....
We're proud to say that name.....
Yesterday was the North London Derby. The opponents were Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs) .
An enmity between the two clubs was born in 1913 when Arsenal FC moved from Woolwich in South East London to the current Highbury area. The reason given at the time was that Highbury was on the London Underground Piccadilly Line and this would give the club more opportunity to attract supporters and correspondingly, more money.
Even over a hundred year later the London Underground hasn't been extended to Woolwich or the surrounding area.
At that time, despite their claims of being a North London club, Tottenham was actually in Middlesex. Middlesex really only exists as a postal address as it was swallowed up in the 1965 Local Government review. Tottenham then became part of the new Haringey local authority and part of London.
So to be pedantic, Tottenham Hotspur have never won the English League as a North London club. As they haven't won it (or much else) since 1961. When the Premier League ends this May, they will have clocked up 60 years since being League Champions.
Another reason for the hate and bile spewed on a daily basis is that when the league restarted after the First World War, Arsenal were elected to the top division where Tottenham who had been relegated as bottom of Division One, weren't.
But that ought to be in the past. But depending on who you support there will always be a rivalry as the two clubs, both in recently built stadiums are at best 3.5 miles apart.
Back to the NLD yesterday.
Arsenal started the brightest. Spurs seemed to be slow starting. With a long ball over the top of the Arsenal defence and the ball going straight to keeper Leno, Spurs forward Son pulled up with what looked like a hamstring strain. There is considerable doubt that even before the injury whether he would have received the punt upfield.
Pretty much against the run of play, Son's replacement Lamela scored a superb goal. Called a rabona. See it on the link.
Either side of this goal Arsenal had shots from Smith-Rowe and Cedric crash against the cross bar and the Spurs left hand post and away to safety.
Before halt-time it was all square in fortunate circumstances. Arsenal were still the dominant side. Odegaard, on loan from Real Madrid, had a shot that deflected slightly and it beat Lloris at his right hand. 44 mins 1-1.
A scruffy challenge by Sanchez on Lacazette about 64 minutes gave the Arsenal man the change to make it 2-1 from the penalty spot. He did that sending Lloris the wrong way. 2-1 to the Arsenal. VAR agreed with the referee's decision.
Lamela will be remembered for his rabona goal. And rightly so. But he will also be remembered for the two yellow cards in a seven minute spell that saw him collect a red card. He had featured for more than the goal. A kick out at Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka and then on centre back David Luiz. Both seemingly unnoticed by the referee and VAR. Yet both shown on repeat on the Sky Sports coverage I was watching.
From then it seemed that Spurs took up the challenge to find at least an equaliser, and sloppy defending from Arsenal gave them opportunities. Kane headed home but was offside and both the lino and VAR were spot on.
The best of these chances was Harry Kane's free kick striking the same post that Cedric had hit earlier. The ball rebounded to Sanchez who sliding shot was goal bound but Gabriel headed clear. This is incredible.
With five added minutes it was hold your breathe time as an Arsenal fan. But then the whistle finally came well after the scheduled added minutes.
North London was RED again.
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