By Simon Wright – Follow
me on Twitter @Siwri88
The 135th
North London derby was one of the greatest in this memorable rivalry. Arsenal came into the game unbeaten in nine
Premiership matches against Tottenham.
They extended this run, but only after nine goals from nine different
goalscorers in a game that see-sawed so much and had Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho
calling it a hockey game rather than a football match.
Tottenham had
just appointed Martin Jol as their new boss after an acrimonious parting of the
ways with Jacques Santini. After going
unbeaten for their first six matches, Spurs had lost four on the spin and had
fallen into the bottom half of the Premier League. Arsenal lost their unbeaten record at Manchester
United three weeks earlier, and stuttered to draws with strugglers Southampton
and Crystal Palace. A win was a perfect
tonic to regain the stalled momentum for the Gunners.
It was the
home side who took the lead in the 37th minute as Moroccan central
defender Noureddine Naybet volleyed Tottenham ahead. Michael Carrick’s free-kick missed the entire
Arsenal defence and Naybet was unmarked at the back post to coolly finish past
Jens Lehmann.
Arsenal had
looked a pale shadow of their former invincibility in the first half, but got
level in stoppage time. Thierry Henry,
who was have a below-par match, capitalised on some slack defending from Ledley
King to bring the Gunners level.
It was 1-1 at
half-time, but the game exploded firmly into life in the second half with a
series of great moments of skill, combined with some pretty shoddy work in the
backline of both teams. It was Tottenham
who first pressed the self-destruct button eight minutes into the restart.
Goalkeeper
Paul Robinson and King got in each other’s way and with possession squandered;
Freddie Ljungberg got into the box and was pulled down by Noe Pamarot. Right back Lauren did the honours from 12
yards to put the reigning champions into the lead. Five minutes later, Naybet was robbed of
possession by Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira (pictured), who waltzed through the high
offside line Tottenham played and smashed an effort past the advancing Robinson
to give Arsene Wenger’s side brief control of proceedings at White Hart Lane.
Back came
Spurs just 60 seconds later. Jermain
Defoe went on a solo run and as Arsenal defenders backed off, he cracked in a
wonderful shot into the top corner of Lehmann’s net and brought the scoreline
back to 3-2. Jol’s men weren’t giving
up, but whenever they were giving themselves hope, more mistakes undid all the
good work going forward.
A wonderful
reverse pass from Cesc Fabregas played Ljungberg in to convert and restore
Arsenal’s two-goal lead. With 16 minutes
left, another Carrick free-kick was met by a decent header from King and he
found the target. This was despite the
home side having 10 players on the field at the time as Defoe was receiving
treatment on the touchline.
The decisive
goal ultimately came with 10 minutes to go from Robert Pires. The substitute continued his remarkable run
of scoring in north London derbies, and had now found the net in his last four
visits to the enemy ground. He found
space in the penalty area, tricked the clueless Pamarot with some silky skill
and finished calmly into the bottom right-hand corner past Robinson.
Henry didn’t
have his best day, and had a defensive nightmare of his own when he conceded
possession with two minutes left. Reto
Ziegler intercepted his attempted pass and his cross found Freddie Kanoute to
dispatch his first goal for the Lilywhites in almost 10 months. Unfortunately, this goal was no more than a
late consolation for Tottenham, and Arsenal held on for an extraordinary
victory.
As a one-off
game, it was simply fantastic but the defending from both sides was absolutely
criminal. Nevertheless, these north
London rivals served up a real Barclays Premier League classic in the November
lunchtime sunshine.
DATE: 13th November 2004
LOCATION: White Hart Lane, North London
ATTENDANCE: 36,095
REFEREE: Steve Bennett
FINAL SCORE: Tottenham Hotspur 4-5 Arsenal
GOALSCORERS: Noureddine Naybet 37, Thierry Henry
45, Lauren 55 PEN, Patrick Vieira 60, Jermain Defoe 61, Freddie Ljungberg 69,
Ledley King 74, Robert Pires 81, Freddie Kanoute 88
TEAMS – Tottenham: Paul Robinson, Noe Pamarot, Ledley King, Noureddine
Naybet, Erik Edman, Michael Carrick, Michael Brown, Pedro Mendes, Reto Ziegler,
Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane
SUBS: Simon Davies for Pedro Mendes – 68 minutes,
Freddie Kanoute for Michael Brown – 76 minutes, Anthony Gardner for Robbie
Keane – 90 minutes
Arsenal: Jens Lehmann, Lauren, Pascal Cygan,
Kolo Toure, Ashley Cole, Jose Antonio Reyes, Patrick Vieira, Cesc Fabregas,
Freddie Ljungberg, Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp
SUBS: Robert Pires for Jose Antonio Reyes –
68 minutes, Robin van Persie for Dennis Bergkamp – 82 minutes
Comments
Post a Comment