Spurs 4 – 5 Arsenal – Match Review
115 comments November 15th, 2004
It’s difficult to describe quite how bizzarre this match was, though if I had to try, I’d probably say “very”.
Two thirds of the way through a fairly even first half, Patrick Vieira missed his header, and Naybet crept in behind Toure to make it 1-0 to Tottenham. No worry, though – right on half-time, a cross from Lauren was plucked out of the sky by the right boot of Thierry Henry, who swiftly poked it underneath the advancing Paul Robinson. 1-1.
At the start of the second half, we began to look like The Invincibles of two weeks ago. Freddie Ljungberg was brought down by Pamarot, and referee Steven Bennett gave the penalty, which Lauren swiftly tucked away for 1-2.
Who says the refs are against us, eh?
Shortly afterwards, Patrick Vieira robbed their midfield of the ball and strode through to lift the ball over the keeper and make it 1-3. Game over, it seemed.
Not so.
Kolo Toure stepped aside to allow Jermain Defoe a nice clear run on goal, and he responded by firing the ball into the far top corner. An excellent finish, and all of a sudden, it was 2-3.
However, Cesc Fabregas had ideas about restoring Arsenal’s two-goal advantage, and his beautiful reverse pass slipped Freddie in to make it 2-4.
Almost immediately, Ledley King rose majestically to head the ball beyond the outstretched arm of Jens Lehmann. 3-4.
Despite this, substitute Robert Pires showed a cool head and lightning-quick feet to go up the other end and make it 3-5.
The fun was far from over, with Freddi Kanoute knocking the ball past Lehmann for 4-5.
Confused?
You oughtta be.
It was a very mental game. The defending was pretty appaulling from both sides, but even so, I don’t know who Jose Mourinho thinks he is with comments like this.
In midly unrelated transfer news, Shaun Wright-Phillips is playing hard to get, whilst Manu Petit is back at the club, albeit just to keep fit.
I hate Mondays.
