Before the match most of the talk had been about Samir Nasri and William Gallas and whether Nasri would do a "Wayne Bridge" and refuse to shake the hand of the veteran defender. The reason for this argument stems from the French team bus and Samir Nasri apparently sitting on Thierry Henry's seat so as the teams lined up and the Arsenal team walked down the line to shake the opposition hands everyone wanted to see if Nasri and Gallas shake hands,which they didn't
When kick off arrived and Arsenal looked like they are ready to lead the Premiership, in the opening couple of minutes Nasri had a chance which he wasted but in the 9th minute he got one up on his old teammate.
A pin point pass from Fabregas released Nasri who moved in on goal, although his first touch was a poor one he managed to get his foot in before the despairing Gomes and while 99% of The Emirates thought the ball was going out of play the Frenchman managed to cut the ball across the goal from an almost impossible angle and the spin carried the ball over the line. The Gunners were one up.
Fabregas was in instrumental form, hardly wasting a pass so when he spread the ball to Arshavin the little Russian crossed the ball and Marouane Chamakh got in ahead of Kaboul to tap home.
Arsenal deserved their lead as Tottenham hadn't done anything in the first half and on this display it was looking like Arsenal were going to rack up an easy three points.
I have no idea what Harry Redknapp said to his players at half time but with that and the arrival of Jermaine Defoe, a replacement for Aaron Lennon seemed to change the way Tottenham played and five minutes after the break Defoe won a header and flicked the ball on to Van der Vaart who in turn found Gareth Bale and while his first touch was great the flick of the outside of his boot was even better and although his shot lacked power it was enough to go past Fabianski and Spurs were back in the game.
From here Tottenham raised there game and in the 66th minute Tottenham were awarded a free kick just outside the area. Van der Vaart's free kick struck Cesc Fabregas' hand inside the area and the referee Phil Dowd had no option but to award a penalty which Van der Vaart slotted home. The away fans were delirious. They were back in the game and if anyone was looking like winning today it was them. They had the invention and ideas and it was Spurs who completed the comeback four minutes from time when a Van der Vaart free kick found Younes Kaboul and his header found the bottom corner. Spurs were winning 3-2 and there was hardly anytime for Arsenal to get back into it. After five minutes of injury time Phil Dowd blew the full time whistle and Tottenham went away with the three points to the delight of the travelling support.
Line Ups:
Arsenal: 21-Fabianski, 03-Sagna, 04-Fabregas, 06-Koscielny, 08-Nasri, 15-Denilson, 17-A Song, 18-Squillaci, 22-Clichy 23-Arshavin, 29-Chamakh Subs Used: 07-Rosicky, 10-Van Persie, 14-Walcott
Tottenham Hotspur: 01-Gomes, 02-Hutton, 03-Bale, 04-Kaboul, 07-Lennon, 08-Jenas, 09-Pavlyuchenko, 11-Van der Vaart, 13-Gallas, 14-Modric, 32-Assou-Ekotto Subs Used: 12-Palacios, 15-Crouch, 18-Defoe
Todays Other Scores:
Birmingham City 1-0 Chelsea: BC-Bowyer
Blackpool 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers: BP-Varney, Harewood WW-Doyle
Bolton Wanderers 5-1 Newcastle United: BW-Davies (2), Elmander (2), Lee NU-Carroll
Liverpool 3-0 West Ham: LI-Johnson, Kuyt, Maxi
Manchester United 2-0 Wigan Athletic: MU-Evra, Hernandez
West Bromwich Albion 0-3 Stoke City: Walters (2), Etherington
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