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MOTD: Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Arsenal

By on February 7, 2015

Arsenal’s performance didn’t offer too much to complain about tonight. Perhaps their team was too defensive, but isn’t that exactly what many fans have so long desired: the proverbial Plan B? It was this Plan B that Arsenal deployed to great effect at the Etihad in their recent away victory. Playing for a 1-0 away win with a defense-first mindset isn’t always bad.

Their choice of when to use this tactic, however, was debatable. Tottenham, much like Arsenal, thrive when in possession, and indeed the lack of it is why they too so often lose to the bigger clubs. Given ample space to work, they eventually broke Arsenal down. By the time Tottenham scored their winner Arsenal were so deep that Olivier Giroud found himself conceding a free-kick just twenty-five yards from his own goal.

Yet it still took brilliance from the man of the moment, Harry Kane, to determine the scoreline. Over seven-hundred league matches following today, Wenger’s side hadn’t defended against many better individual performances. With two goals, if his performance today isn’t enough to prompt an international call-up, then England may as well sack Roy Hodgson by morning. Tottenham grew into the match slowly — Arsenal took an early lead, in fact, as Danny Welbeck’s cross was turned home by Mesur Ozil at the far post off of Olivier Giroud’s scuffed shot — but by the end Spurs’ play was just as silky as the best of Arsenal’s or any other world-class team for that matter.

Kane will dominate the headlines, deservedly so, but Tottenham, including Nabil Bentaleb, Ryan Mason, and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris — whose fingertip save denied Welbeck in Arsenal’s only other chance of note bar their goal — were excellent in many areas of the pitch. Early on, Kane forced Ospina into a brilliant finger-tip save down low to his left, and thirteen minutes in, Danny Rose’s bouncing effort caused yet more trouble for the Colombian goalkeeper.


Mauricio Pochettino (above) and Arsene Wenger (below) were speaking after the North London derby, which was live on BT Sport 1.

While it did take some time to break down Arsenal, the Gunners’ were simply outplayed in the end. Tottenham were slightly too narrow in their play, but as the match moved into the second period they became wider, and in the end Kane’s eighty-sixth minute header came from Bentaleb’s beauty of a cross from the left. Kane still had much to do and was flawless in directing his header back across goal, leaving Opsina rooted to the spot.

For the most part Ospina had a great match, saving Moussa Dembele’s low shot with only the tips of his fingertips midway through the second half, yet had been rendered helpless before, as well, in Tottenham’s first goal. Dembele had flicked a corner on from the near post and Ospina did well to tip it just wide of his goal, only for the ball to fall right to the unmarked Kane at the far post, whose finish was cool as ever. On a day where Liverpool and Manchester City dropped more points, their victory in another fierce North London Derby is important as ever for Tottenham.
Man of the Match: Harry Kane


Watch Liverpool v Tottenham live on BT Sport 1 from 7.15pm on Tuesday the 10th of February.

Photo credit: wonker on Flickr

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.