Tottenham 1-1 Stoke
Saturday’s cup game against Bolton should’ve presented the chance for Spurs to wipe the slate clean, restart a run of form and get their three consecutive league defeats out of the system. However, the unfortunate circumstances involving Fabrice Muamba, which resulted in the 23-year old being rushed to London’s Chest Hospital having suffered a cardiac arrest, meant their cup game was abandoned in the 41st minute.
Harry Redknapp told his players the best way to get over the trauma of Saturday was to play and when Stoke took the lead in a fashion typical of The Potters, it looked like the suffering would continue at White Hart Lane. Cameron Jerome had put the visitors into the lead with just fifteen minutes left and with just injury time left to play it looked as if Stoke would take all three points.
Fortunately, the diminutive Rafael Van der Vaart headed home an equaliser in the 93rd minute of the game and now Spurs can build on the momentum of their late goal, going into the weekend’s tie with Chelsea. At current, The Lilywhites have just one point from twelve – Chelsea will be tough opponents to improve that form, which has seen their blip threatening to become a trend.
Lessons learned:
- Tottenham continue to choke with under 10 games remaining in the Premier League.
- But, they’ve grabbed their first point in four games.
- However, their failure to win see them slip to fourth.
Everton 0-1 Arsenal
If Arsenal bettered Tottenham’s result on Wednesday night, The Gunners would leapfrog Spurs into third place and thus take the lead as the top London club – a much coveted plaudit between Arsene Wenger and Harry Redknapp.
Eight minutes into the game, Thomas Vermaelen’s bundled effort looked set to see Arsenal on course for their sixth straight league victory on the trot, with the Belgian defender putting The Gunners 1-0 up. Arsenal had already rued one miss chance before the goal and with 82 minutes left to double their lead, they were led to rue many more.
Their failure to score another, including a rare dry 90 minutes for Robin van Persie, who this week was named as one of the Premier League’s best three, by the best Lionel Messi, nearly cost the visitors, with Everton denied a clear equaliser when Royston Drenthe’s finish from inside the box was incorrectly disallowed by an offside decision.
As aforementioned, Tottenham failed to equal Arsenal’s three points on the night and thus the red North London side leapfrogged the white North London side, with the two teams swapping places in 3rd and 4th.
Lessons learned:
- Arsenal have the best 6 game run in the Premier League, with 18 points from 18.
- Since Andrey Arshavin left Arsenal on loan, The Gunners have won seven in seven
- Tottenham are back in their shadow until the weekend, at least.
Written by Jordan Florit for www.maycauseoffence.com/ For more articles visit my website or my Twitter @JordanFlorit
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