Henri Lansbury's first Arsenal goal came at White Hart Lane. Legend. Pic via Guardian.
Tottenham Hotspur 1: Keane 49
Arsenal 4: Lansbury 15, Nasri 92 (pen), 96 (pen), Arshavin 105
I don't think there is anything more satisfying then watching a North London derby that ends with fans streaming towards the exits as fast as they can at White Hart Lane, while the Arsenal section goes mental.
Arsene Wenger, watching from the director's box while serving a one match touchline ban for using the wrong method of getting Martin Atkinson's attention on Saturday, made eight changes to the side that drew at Sunderland, which actually resulted in a surprisingly strong side for a Carling Cup tie. Then again, it was the North London derby. Lukasz Fabianski was given his eight billionth second chance in between the sticks. Johan Djourou was given the chance, as expected, at center half along with first team regular Laurent Koscielny. Emmanuel Eboue and Kieran Gibbs played right and left back, respectively. Jack Wilshere, Samir Nasri, and Denilson started in midfield; Tomas Rosicky, Carlos Vela, and the young Henri Lansbury started up front.
Only three of those were changes from the starting XI on Saturday; Denilson and Rosicky came off the bench on Saturday and started today; Lansbury was the only reserve to crack the line-up, shocking for an Arsene Wenger managed Carling Cup squad, but typical for a North London derby in any competition.
Arsenal controlled possession early, but could not muster much out of it for the first ten minutes. In the 11th, the Gunners had their first shout for a penalty, but nothing was called by Lee Probert as Lansbury was tripped just inside the area by Benoit Assou-Ekotto. Probably should have been a penalty, but the first contact from the Cameroonian defender was just outside the area. Still, it was a missed foul in a dangerous spot.
That didn't matter much four minutes later as the Gunners struck first, in lovely fashion. Major credit on the goal goes to Jack Wilshere, who played an absolutely perfect cross along the six-yard box, where only the sliding Henri Lansbury could knock it into the net. It was the first Arsenal goal for the lifelong Gooner from Enfield in his first start.
Arsenal had two chances later in the first half flagged for offside. The first call was borderline, the second, blatantly wrong. Kieran Gibbs was through after another superb ball from Wilshere and maneuvered around the goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa as well before everyone realized the linesman's flag was (wrongly) up. The match remained 1-0 at halftime, with Arsenal having controlled most of the opening 45 minutes.
Tottenham made two substitutions, bringing on Robbie Keane and Aaron Lennon, and switched to a 4-4-2 and a more convincing attack line-up, and it worked in four minutes. Robbie Keane, ridiculously offside, was allowed to play on after a through ball and fired a low shot which squeezed just through the arms of the diving Fabianski and into the net. It was a hard hit ball, no doubt, and I know we can be rough on Fabianski because of his hundreds of thousands of errors in the past, but I sincerely feel that he should have had that shot and that Almunia would have had that shot.
Spurs' new found attacking style lasted for about seven minutes before it was all Arsenal again, but the Gunners could not find a go-ahead goal in normal time. In the 62nd, Carlos Vela headed a cross wide. In the 70th, Tottenham had their best chance for a winner as Aaron Lennon was through on goal, but Koscielny slid in with a perfect tackle to deny him. Arsenal brought on Marouane Chamakh and Andrei Arshavin in the 73rd minute to go for the win.
Lansbury was booked for a challenge in the 83rd that marked the first time in a long time that I actually clapped for a booking; this was the kind of "yeah, I'll take a booking to deny a scoring opportunity" kind of challenge that you like to see every once in a while. Two minutes later, looking for a brace, Lansbury whipped a shot that, while stopped comfortably, was one of Arsenal's best looks at goal since their opening goal.
The final minutes of normal time really seemed like a winner was coming for Arsenal. Denilson hit a 22-yard rocket in the 89th that was only palmed down by Pletikosa, but Samir Nasri could not get a foot to the rebound. It was a situation fairly reminiscent of Nicklas Bendtner's winner at Hull City in March, with a little more traffic in front. A free kick from Wilshere in the 90th flew past everyone until finding Djourou on the back corner, but his header could not be directed on goal and was cleared. Two minutes later, Eboue had a deflected look at goal, but there would be no regular time winner for anyone and the match headed to extra time, with every nerve in my body shaking.
Spurs kicked off extra time, but within thirty seconds, it was a penalty to Arsenal. Samir Nasri took a through ball from Arshavin and was taken down by Sebastien Bassong to set up the penalty. Nasri's strike was not the best (but on goal, unlike Rosicky's on Saturday), but the keeper guessed wrong, and Arsenal led 2-1. It was high enough that it would have been saved had Pletikosa guessed right.
Then, three minutes later, another through ball from Arshavin and another penalty to Arsenal, as Chamakh was hauled down by the arm by Steven Caulker. Nasri's penalty this time was perfectly along the ground to a corner, Pletikosa guessed wrong again anyway, and six minutes into extra time, it was 3-1 Arsenal.
As Spurs fans raced for the exits, Arsenal grabbed a fourth; this time, the through ball was to Arshavin and into the net, from Wilshere. Spurs nearly pinged one back from a corner in added time of the first half of extra time, but Robbie Keane flick on goal was stopped on the line by Nasri.
Tottenham clearly appeared like they no longer wanted to be there for the final 15 minutes, as Arsenal passed the ball around, savoring a 4-1 win at the Lane and another round to maybe draw a weaker side and play some more youth in late October.
Oh, the down side. Of course, there's a down side. Kieran Gibbs left hurt, and might have re-broken the metatarsal he hurt last November that kept him out for pretty much the rest of last season. How about that. And the third string left back, Armand Traore... he's out on loan. And the first string left back, Gael Clichy, has probably been the weakest link on the back line this year.
But, anyway, happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. 4-1 win at the Lane.
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