Kaboul

Tottenham Hotspurs forced a huge upset at the north London derby by beating Arsenal 3-2 after being two goals down in the first half. Spurs ended a 17 year curse as it was the first time that they had beaten Arsenal in their own backyard. The game was quick, swift and offensive as both the teams managers rely on attacking football.

Arsenal drew first blood through French international and in form midfielder Samir Nasri in the 9th minute. Csec Fabregas delivered a brilliant aerial ball which Nasri capitalized and breached the Tottenham defense before scoring from an almost impossible angle. Marouane Chamakh doubled the ‘Gunners ‘lead in the 27th minute by perfectly placing a cross from Andrei Arshavin behind goalkeeper Gomez. Arsenal dominated the first half and the Spurs could hardly test the opposition’s resistance. It seemed like Arsenal is going to bag the game easily.

Harry Redknapp replaced Aaron Lennon with Germaine Defoe who returned from an ankle injury. He influenced the game as Gareth Bale struck a low hard shot behind Gunners goalkeeper Fabianski and sparked an unexpected fight-back in the 50th minute. Fabregas handled the ball in the penalty area while Van Der Vaart struck a free kick which resulted in a penalty. Van Der Vaart again stepped up and his shot gave the goalkeeper no chance to even get near the ball. The scores were level.

For the next 15 minutes both the London rivals gave no quarter as it was a very tight game right after the equalizer. When the game was drawing closer to the end a draw seemed to be on the cards but London derby’s are always special, a surprise was yet to come. In the 85th minute Van Der Vaart swung a goal bound free kick from the right but it seemed like the arsenal defense had it covered but suddenly Kaboul jumped and sent a glancing header into the net, for the first time Tottenham were in lead. Arsenal tried to fight back but time ran out and the Tottanham supporters went beserk.

From the outset Arsenal was the better team. They controlled and dominated the midfield throughout the match, thanks to another super performance from Alex Song and good support from Denielson. Tottenham were not the better team but they took their chances and scored and that’s what matters in football. Tough luck for Arsenal who lost the golden opportunity of topping the EPL standings.

Tags: Arsenal, English Premier League, EPL, Football, Kaboul, North London Derby, Spurs, Tottenham Hotspurs