Tottenham Hotspur beat arch-rivals Arsenal 2-1 in a hot tempered North London derby at White Hart Lane.
Rafael van der Vaart fired Tottenham in front late in the first half, but Aaron Ramsey equalized for Arsenal shortly after the interval.
Spurs sealed the win with 17 minutes remaining when young right back Kyle Walker fired a long range effort past the despairing dive of Wojciech Szczesny.
In the buildup to the game, Gunners boss Arsene Wenger spoke of how he hoped a derby win could “ignite” Arsenal’s season. What transpired at White Hart Lane was quite the opposite, yet another defeat has left the club in trouble both on and off the field.
The defeat leaves Arsenal only two points above the relegation zone, and they must wait 13 days before they have an opportunity to improve matters when they face fellow strugglers Sunderland.
The injury list at Arsenal also received another significant addition, as fullback Bacary Sagna broke his leg in a challenge with Benoit Assou-Ekotto. The French international defender will be out for around three months, and joins Thomas Vermaelen, Jack Wilshere and Laurent Koscielny on the treatment table.
Arsene Wenger again found himself in a sideline spat for refusing to shake the hand of Spurs coach Clive Allen, and the Gunners also received some criticism from one of their own.
Lee Dixon was a defensive force for the Gunners, playing over 450 games for the club and winning four league titles, three FA Cups and a UEFA Cup Winners Cup. Dixon summarized the North London derby for BBC Sport and doubted the defensive steel of the current group.
“They are frail and they can concede goals from defensive errors,” Dixon said of the current Gunners team. “Until they stop that they will carry on being frail and that is the worrying sign.”
Dixon was equally pessimistic when asked about the prospects for the season ahead. “I think top four is out of their reach now, I really do, so you are looking at top six,” Dixon told the BBC website. “Yet the way they are playing now, can they reach top eight?”
It must be worrying for even the most optimistic of Arsenal fans that a man like Dixon, who has an undoubted soft spot for the club is so gloomy when predicting the seasons outcome.
To cap things off on a truly miserable day for the club, the Arsenal fans would also find themselves in hot water for abusive chanting throughout the game. Even in dark days such as the 8-2 mauling suffered at Old Trafford earlier this season, the Arsenal fans sang to the end and showed themselves in a positive light.
England and Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere took to twitter to praise the fans for their behavior at Old Trafford.
Sadly on this day the local derby would bring out the worst in some, and a vocal minority brought shame and embarrassment to themselves and their club.
First the moronic fans would chant about the London riots in Tottenham, forgetting that the same riots wrecked their own city. They then stooped even lower by pouring abuse on former Gunner Emmanuel Adebayor.
The subject of the chants was the tragic shooting in Angola that killed some of Adebayor’s teammates from the Togo national team.
“What was chanted at Emmanuel was disgusting,” said Spurs manager Harry Redknapp. “How do you chant something disgusting like that? You can’t be right mentally, you need help.”
Sadly Redknapp is right, and currently Arsenal need help on and off the field in order to turn this season around.
Spurs sealed the win with 17 minutes remaining when young right back Kyle Walker fired a long range effort past the despairing dive of Wojciech Szczesny.
In the buildup to the game, Gunners boss Arsene Wenger spoke of how he hoped a derby win could “ignite” Arsenal’s season. What transpired at White Hart Lane was quite the opposite, yet another defeat has left the club in trouble both on and off the field.
The defeat leaves Arsenal only two points above the relegation zone, and they must wait 13 days before they have an opportunity to improve matters when they face fellow strugglers Sunderland.
The injury list at Arsenal also received another significant addition, as fullback Bacary Sagna broke his leg in a challenge with Benoit Assou-Ekotto. The French international defender will be out for around three months, and joins Thomas Vermaelen, Jack Wilshere and Laurent Koscielny on the treatment table.
Arsene Wenger again found himself in a sideline spat for refusing to shake the hand of Spurs coach Clive Allen, and the Gunners also received some criticism from one of their own.
Lee Dixon was a defensive force for the Gunners, playing over 450 games for the club and winning four league titles, three FA Cups and a UEFA Cup Winners Cup. Dixon summarized the North London derby for BBC Sport and doubted the defensive steel of the current group.
“They are frail and they can concede goals from defensive errors,” Dixon said of the current Gunners team. “Until they stop that they will carry on being frail and that is the worrying sign.”
Dixon was equally pessimistic when asked about the prospects for the season ahead. “I think top four is out of their reach now, I really do, so you are looking at top six,” Dixon told the BBC website. “Yet the way they are playing now, can they reach top eight?”
It must be worrying for even the most optimistic of Arsenal fans that a man like Dixon, who has an undoubted soft spot for the club is so gloomy when predicting the seasons outcome.
To cap things off on a truly miserable day for the club, the Arsenal fans would also find themselves in hot water for abusive chanting throughout the game. Even in dark days such as the 8-2 mauling suffered at Old Trafford earlier this season, the Arsenal fans sang to the end and showed themselves in a positive light.
England and Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere took to twitter to praise the fans for their behavior at Old Trafford.
Sadly on this day the local derby would bring out the worst in some, and a vocal minority brought shame and embarrassment to themselves and their club.
First the moronic fans would chant about the London riots in Tottenham, forgetting that the same riots wrecked their own city. They then stooped even lower by pouring abuse on former Gunner Emmanuel Adebayor.
The subject of the chants was the tragic shooting in Angola that killed some of Adebayor’s teammates from the Togo national team.
“What was chanted at Emmanuel was disgusting,” said Spurs manager Harry Redknapp. “How do you chant something disgusting like that? You can’t be right mentally, you need help.”
Sadly Redknapp is right, and currently Arsenal need help on and off the field in order to turn this season around.
