Gunners destroy Spurs then qualify for Champions League last 16

Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham

 

Arsenal 2-0 Montpellier

In the past week, Arsenal have emerged from a horrid run of results to record a wonderful 5-2 demolition of fierce rivals Tottenham Hotspur and a 2-0 victory over Montpellier to secure qualification from the group stage of the Champions League.

The build-up to the North London derby had been as tense as ever, with Emmanuel Adebayor proclaiming that Arsenal constantly sell their best players in Saturday’s morning papers. His comments seemed to have stirred his new team mates as Spurs began the game far quicker and hungrier than the Gunners. In fact, with only ten minutes played, Tottenham took the lead, through the villain in chief, Adebayor. It was an extremely poor goal to give away from an Arsenal perspective, a simple long ball saw Mertesacker inexplicably push up to play offside, while the rest of the defence stayed back. This enabled Jermain Defoe all the time and space he needed to advance on the area and shoot on goal. The shot was saved by Szczesny but he could only parry it into the path of Adebayor, who had been allowed to stroll into the penalty area, past the Arsenal defence, unchecked, to shoot into the empty net. At this stage the away side appeared to be in control of the game and moments later Aaron Lennon squandered an opportunity to double his side’s lead as he could only skew his shot narrowly wide of the goal.

Yet in the 18^th minute the game changed dramatically as Adebayor did what he does best and lost his head. The Togolese international’s needless studs up challenge on Santi Cazorla, near the half way line, left the referee no option but to issue a red card to the delight of the home crowd, who let Adebayor know exactly what they think of him as he slowly trudged off the field. From this moment on, Arsenal never looked back. Despite Andre Villas Boas’ claims that Spurs were in charge from the first to the last minute, Arsenal in fact completely dominated the game following the sending off and created chance after chance. Many pundits have since claimed that had Adebayor remained on the field, the away side would have completed an easy victory, but the way Spurs capitulated suggests otherwise.

Yet the sending off did enable Cazorla and Wilshere to become more prominent in the game. Cazorla was simply exceptional and at the heart of every Arsenal attack. On numerous occasions the Spaniard demonstrated exquisite control and skill to bamboozle the opposition. Tottenham can only dream of having such a player in their ranks. Wilshere on the other hand was a real bulldog. He ran and chased and harried every Tottenham player, simply refusing to give up at any stage. One occasion in the second half summed up his performance perfectly. It appeared as though Gareth Bale had wriggled free on the edge of the box, with no Arsenal player in sight, yet out of nowhere Wilshere emerged and hunted the Welshman down with all his might, ultimately winning the ball back with an excellent challenge. In addition, Lukas Podolski’s work rate as he continually tracked back and put in tackle after tackle and The Walcott continually threatening to expose Tottenham’s shortcomings, also helped Arsenal to take control of proceedings.

The Gunners were winning the midfield battle and were level in the 23^rd minute thanks to Per Mertesacker’s wonderfully well placed header, which more than made up for his earlier mistake. The German escaped from Willam Gallas to meet Theo Walcott’s cross and guide the ball into the corner of the net, past the despairing dive of Hugo Lloris for his first Arsenal goal. The Arsenal onslaught continued with Lloris saving well from a Giroud header and Cazorla’s long range effort flying just over the bar, before Giroud was once again denied by Lloris from a close range header. The home side’s dominance was rewarded with three minutes of the first half remaining through Lukas Podolski’s deflected effort which rolled slowly into the net. And there was more to come before the end of the first half, Oliver Giroud’s excellent finish, turning in Cazorla’s low ball, making the score 3-1 to the Gunners.

Arsenal were on fire and continued in the same vein at the start of the second half. On the hour mark, Giroud’s cushioned header found Podolski on the left hand side and the German’s low cross was met by the advancing Cazorla to send the Emirates wild once more. Tottenham were on their knees and a real drubbing was on the cards. Yet Gareth Bale had other ideas and reduced the deficit with 19 minutes remaining with a fine effort, having been allowed to surge forward by the back pedalling Arsenal defence. Suddenly the previously exuberant home support became nervous and edgy and rightly so, as soon after Tottenham’s second goal, Bale had a glorious chance to reduce the deficit further but fortunately missed the target.

With the clock appearing to be standing still, Arsenal finally began to control the game again, passing the ball amongst themselves and forcing Spurs to chase shadows. As the match entered its final minutes, Oxlade-Chamberlain broke down the right and delivered a perfect ball for Theo Walcott to complete the day’s scoring with Arsenal’s fifth to replicate last season’s score at the Emirates, 5-2.

Having well and truly trounced Spurs, the Arsenal faithful would have expected an increased confidence within the squad, with the belief that such a result could lead to a turnaround in their recently faltering season. However, the first half performance against Montpellier on Wednesday suggested otherwise. It appeared the Gunners were suffering from a derby day hangover as time and time again they lost possession through wayward passes.

In contrast to their hosts, Montpellier were able to control the game, playing short intricate passes, yet they did not really create enough genuine goal scoring opportunities to really trouble the Arsenal goal. In fact, Arsenal had the best chance of the first half, Laurent Koscielny’s header coming back off the bar from Wilshere’s cross.

Arsenal’s second half performance was vastly improved and was helped somewhat by an early goal. With only four minutes of the second half played, Thomas Vermaelen’s cross was nodded down by Giroud and Jack Wilshere raced forward to clip the ball over the advancing Geoffrey Jourdren in the Montpellier goal. Arsenal made sure the game was safe just after the hour mark through Podolski’s exquisite effort. The German played a one-two with Giroud on the edge of the box meeting the Frenchman’s chipped ball with a sensational volley which flew into the back of the net.

The Gunners managed to see out the rest of the game in relative ease and with Schalke defeating Olympiacos, Arsenal’s win saw them qualify from the group stage of the Champions League for the 13^th straight season.

All in all a very productive week for Arsenal F.C. Hopefully the squad will gain confidence from and build on these two games and we will see an improvement in both the team’s performance and results. Olivier Giroud is fast becoming a pivotal member of the first team, while Podolski is chipping in with his fair share of goals and Wilshere is slowly but surely getting back to his best and gelling with his new teammates. These are all positive signs which may well point to a bright future ahead.