Loss is never a cause for happiness, but losing to your most bitter rivals can be painful. Thankfully for Gooners, our derby buddies have given us little cause for misery in modern history. Everyone knew, of course, that this remarkable domination over North London bragging rights had to end at some point. Well, that loss has finally come our way. While the magnitude of the defeat might be the stuff of nightmares, the context it occurred in does help in soothing the pain.
For starters, we were once again playing a side filled with youngsters. And why not? An even less experienced team had given Chelsea a run for their money in the final last year. So it was that fringe players like Bendtner, Walcott, Denilson, Diaby, Traore and Fabianski found themselves starting. Wenger might have been even more daring, but a spate of injuries meant that several of the first teamers were needed as well.
As for Tottenham, one look at their league position shows why they must really covet the Carling Cup. It’s been long since they had a chance to see the bright sheen of new silverware, and the Carling Cup is their only real hope this year, though it is hard to see them turning Chelsea over. Berbatov made their feelings clear by declaring this to be the biggest match Spurs would play this year. Gooners may snigger at the very idea of a Carling Cup match being the ‘biggest of the year’, but the Spuds were taking it very, very seriously.
And it showed. Despite flashes of decent football, Arsenal were the second best team right from the kick off. Within three minutes, Jenas was allowed to drive at the penalty area and dispatch a shot past the keeper and off the post.
Arsenal responded with some decent attacking moves of their own, but Bendtner and Walcott were toothless in attack and unable to create any chances of note. Even Cesc’s forced introduction failed to change the complexion of the game, and before the half was over, Arsenal’s woes doubled when Bendtner headed in an own goal, trying to challenge Michael Dawson.
A dreadful first half came to an end, but the tide of woe was not quite extinguished.
Arsenal showed a renewed vigour and sense of purpose at the start of the first half – after all, 2-0 was hardly an insurmountable target, and hey, it was the Spurs. Today though, our dear neighbours had decided not to be our whipping boys and within minutes, the Gunners were hit on a clinical counterattack which culminated in a well taken goal by Robbie Keane.
Bendtner nearly made up for his error with an excellent bicycle kick, but was denied by the crossbar. Soon after, the final nail in the coffin was hammered in by Lennon, and Wenger at last decided to make the changes up front, bringing on Adebayor and Eduardo. As if to serve notice of Arsenal’s full strength superiority, Ade smashed home an awesome goal within five minutes of arriving on the pitch. Imagine what he could have produced over 90.
It was too little, too late though, and it was clear that defeat to Spurs had finally come. Things were made worse by a tiff between Ade and Bendtner, which one hopes will not damage the team spirit which is so crucial to Arsenal’s style of play.
Malbranque added to the scoreline in the dying minutes to complete what will be a historic moment in Tottenham’s history. Alongside the list of glories achieved by their ‘B’, ‘C’, and reserve teams, this match shall find a pride of place: the night they defeated a second string Arsenal… in the Carling Cup.