So that match we always look forward to on the calendar, against Spurs, is upon us again. This time away. With Spurs being our closest rivals, geographically, this has, and will always be, a massive massive match. And we’ve got scores to settle.
I remember a couple of seasons ago on Twitter, when it was getting towards the time for a match against Spurs in the leagu, people tweeting statements starting with “since the last time Spurs beat Arsenal in the league…’, with people coming up with ridiculous (and fabulous!) statements, such as: “Since the last time Spurs beat Arsenal in the league, apple was only a fruit.” “Since the last time Spurs beat Arsenal, Tony Blair was still a toddler”, etc.
But then, we played at White Hart Lane, and lost 2-1. That hurt like crazy! And no, not just because the twitter hastaggy thing was now obsolete. But because well, I never thought I’d see the day!
It then changed to “Since Spurs beat Arsenal in the league at home…” Then they bloody beat us 2-3 at the Emirates. HOW we lost that match, I’ll never know, having been 2-0 up at half-time! We then played them at White Hart Lane, and managed to draw 3-3, after having been 1-3 up at some point before half-time!
We definitely have been indulging them a bit too much, and it’s high time we reminded them who’s boss in North London! We’ve been going a bit easy on them, and you know it’s time to change this, when the media, everybody, has you down as underdogs! Like seriously!? I know we’ve been nowhere near our best of late, but guess what? So haven’t Spurs! Worst case scenario, I’d say it’s a toss-up as to who wins, but there’s no way in he’ll Spurs are favourites, and that’s not just me talking with my Arsenal hat on.
But as my dad said, though, and more important than neighbourhood rivalry, winning this match will show whether or not we’ve finally found our mojo. We’re 3 in 3 in 3, at the moment. 3 wins out of 3, in 3 different competitions. A win tomorrow will show that we’ve finally gotten over the sales of Cesc and Nasri, and we’re ready to press on.
Will it be easy tomorrow? Hell no! That’s why a win will be massive, because it won’t just be handed to us on a silver platter. We also have the added incentive that Adebayor will most likely be playing against us, and we’d like him to remember that how it was when he was with us, scoring against them, not the other way round. Don’t want to give him any satisfaction of any sort.
As far as team news is concerned, we’re missing the usual suspects- Vermaelen, Wilshere and Diaby, with Arsene confirming that Koscielny is out. Theo and Gervinho will be facing fitness tests, and hopefully they’ll be fit. Obviously not ideal having injury concerns, but that’s the nature of the game, and we’ve got to deal with it. Song is most likely going to play alongside Mertesacker in the centre of defence. He did well against Olympiacos in mid-week, and hopefully they can continue that partnership tomorrow. It gives Frimpong or Cocquelin a chance to shine, and hopefully one of them will take it.
I think I’ll stop there. Apologies that it’s not the usual match report. Dev is away, and right now, it’s 2am in the morning, and I’ve had a lot of alcohol down my throat, so my brain isn’t fully functional! All back to normal next game, I should think!
All that’s left to be said at this point though, is Come on Arsenal! It’s high time Spurs were reminded that there’s only one team in North London! Don’t you agree?
