In anticipation of tonight’s North London derby, we’re taking a look at some of the most memorable matches in recent years between Arsenal and Portsmouth Seniors. If you can’t stomach the lasagne, get out of the kitchen.
1996/97 Arsenal 3 – 1 Tottenham
This was Arsene Wenger’s first match against Tottenham, and even then, when the only thing thicker than his hair was his glasses, Arsene was still cutting it fine. In a match that the Gunners completely dominated, it was 1-1 until the 88th minute (I initially typed 888th minute which strangely seems like a better reflection of how agonising the game was). And then up steps Tony Adams with one of those trademark volleys he only ever unleashed in important matches. Cue hysteria. There was even time for Dennis Bergkamp to make a fool of the Spurs defence in injury time. I particularly like Ian Wright directing the crowd’s celebrations like some demented circus ringmaster.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOvaxECYrrw
1999/2000 Tottenham 2 – 1 Arsenal
The last time Tottenham beat us in the league. Nothing to see here.
2003/04 Tottenham 2 – 2 Arsenal
“We won the league at White Hart Lane.” At half time we’d played some scintillating stuff and it was 2-0 to us. Knowing that we only needed a point to win the league title, things got a bit peculiar in the second half and we kindly allowed Spurs back into the game. Jens Lehmann had an early onset of senility and pushed Robbie Keane over in the box when the ball was off somewhere near the corner flag. Anyway, the resulting last-minute penalty meant the game ended 2-2. Arsenal celebrated but it wasn’t *quite* perfect.
Having said that, if John Terry hadn’t missed a sitter in the game’s earlier match between Chelsea and Newcastle, we wouldn’t have won with just a point. So it was almost worth drawing just to give Terry a sleepless night (for entirely different reasons than usual).
2004/05 Tottenham 4 – 5 Arsenal
I mean, come on, just look at the scoreline. Do I really need to say anything else?
Here’s how it went – 1-0, 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 2-3, 2-4, 3-4, 3-5, 4-5. Every goal scored by a different player. Needless to say, the defending was woeful although – and this is going to sound petty – outside of the goals, it wasn’t really that good a game. Every chance yielded a goal and until the first goal on 37 minutes, the match was duller than Alex McLeish promoting non-alcoholic beer. Still, it epitomises both teams’ problems for most of the last decade – potency in front of goal and a wealth of attacking options, coupled with dodgy defences and a tendency to leak leak leak.
2005/06 Arsenal 1 – 1 Tottenham
“Highbury’s last derby tainted by bad blood.” That was how The Independent reported on this memorable bout. For a start, it was always going to be a battle. It was the first derby in years – decades, even – that meant more than just pride. Coming into the game, Tottenham were ahead of Arsenal in the race for fourth place. Defeat for Arsenal would have left them six points behind with only three games to play. In other words, lose this and we can kiss the Champions League goodbye.
Wenger must have been very disappointed in Thierry Henry and Cesc Fabregas because he inexplicably dropped them both to the bench. It would almost have been funny if the situation wasn’t so desperate. Tottenham controlled the first half without scoring. The only incident of note was an injury to Philippe Senderos. Highbury was anxious. A hush descended on the fated stadium.
And then it all kicked off.
Emmanuel Eboue collided with Gilberto and stayed down hurt. Unwritten law at this time said you should put the ball out. Spurs law said, when their right back is down injured, play someone into the space that he would normally be defending. Which Michael Carrick duly did, releasing Edgar Davids who crossed for Robbie Keane to tap in.
The players started squaring up, Lehmann goes chasing after Davids all over the pitch, low-level violence breaks out between the supporters, Arsenal’s managing director even confronts some idiotic Tottenham board member who celebrated too vociferously in the directors’ box, and most gloriously of all, Arsene goes head-to-head with Tottenham manager Martin Jol. Mutual screaming. It was beautiful.
So on comes Henry and predictably equalises. Off goes Davids for a wild challenge (probably still pursued by Lehmann). And all was very unfair in love and war. The infamous lasagna-gate episode eventually counted for Tottenham on the last day of the season but this was one derby you don’t forget.
Oh and don’t worry, Eboue was fine.
2008/09 Arsenal 4 – 4 Tottenham
Pain. Pure undiluted pain.
When you enter the 89th minute of a match 4-2 up, the last thing you expect to be doing in 4 minutes time is hitting any inanimate object you can get within punching distance. Arsenal reject David Bentley scored an admittedly spectacular goal to open the scoring before Arsenal eased into a 3-1 lead. Even when Spurs got back to 3-2, Van Persie scored the very next minute to restore a 2-goal cushion. Unfortunately, in this case it was a whoopee cushion.
Ok, let’s get this bit out the way quickly. GailClichyslippedallowingJermaineJenastorununopposedandscorealuckygoal. ThensomebastardlumpstheballforwardfromkickoffithitsthepostandcomesouttoanonrushingAaronLennon. Arsenal fans all over the world age two years in two minutes.
As two-goal salvos go, it was impressive. Almost as impressive as this…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzrV8miA0Ig
2008/09 Tottenham 0 – 0 Arsenal
This deserves a mention purely because it features Eboue going nuts. Seriously, I’ve never seen a player come out as aggressively as Eboue did that day. It’s obvious he’d got himself absurdly geed up for this match (probably because of what happened in the previous one) but right from the whistle he was like a little gremlin that had been fed on raw meat for a year. He was flying into everything – Tottenham players, Arsenal players, the ref, the fans… well maybe those last two are an exaggeration but you get the idea. How he managed to stay on the pitch for 37 minutes I’ll never know. And not only that, but he had no position whatsoever. He went where the ball went and hacked down anyone in his path. He’d be tackling their centre forward one moment and then tackle the goalkeeper in the very same minute. He came out and publicly apologised to the fans after the match. Some say Arsenal need more players with his spirit. Others say if that was the case we’d regularly play matches with eleven against none.
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