Sunday, December 2, 2018

Arsenal 4 - 2 Tottenham

Since this is my blog, and no one reads it anyway, I can say that we did catch Spuds at a good time.  Our Thursday fixture was a walk in the (very cold) park compared to their must-win struggle against Inter.  We rested almost all our starters, whereas they had to play most of theirs.  I think this contributed to Harry Kane's muted performance, especially compared to the lively Son who played maybe 25 minutes mid-week.  It also helped that we were at home.  On the other hand, Mike Dean was officiating, which is usually worth a goal for Spuds, and so it was today.

It was shocking that we were behind at the half, despite our history of doing just that this year in the EPL, given how well we played.  Two PKs and a GK error...that 45 minutes deserved better.  We dominated, but TOT had their moments.  They had no answer for the questions we asked in the second half, though.  The goal of the match was Auba's equalizer, of course.  Magnificent!  What a goalscorer.  Ten so far in the EPL.  It was the right decision to hit it first time, and boy did he hit it.  Laca's left-footed slipping shot took a wonderful deflection off Dier, so yeah, some luck there.  But Torreira's run and finish were superb.  Spuds had few prime chances and when Vertonghen was sent off for a very ugly flying spike tackle into Lacazette's standing leg, the only question was whether we were going to make it 5-2 for old times' sake.

This was a classic NLD, complete with several multiplayer altercations, strong tackles, and controversial calls.  The whole team can feel proud, but Torreira was my man of the match.

On to Old Trafford!  Man U looked out of sorts at St Mary's yesterday.  I read that Mourinho called Pogba "a virus" in the locker room post-match.  That always motivates a player.

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