Match report:
Though not at their very best, Spurs were still far too good for Arsenal; two goals in three minutes, from Dele Alli and Harry Kane, kept the pressure on Chelsea, whose lead at the top of the league was cut to four points
Updated
Sun 30 Apr 2017 13.29 EDT
First published on Sun 30 Apr 2017 10.30 EDT
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Thanks all for your company and comments - sorry I couldn’t use them all - and enjoy the rest of your weekend.
So, Spurs keep the pressure on Chelsea, now back to four points behind, but with only four games left, it’s hard to see a way for them. Arsenal surely can’t now make next season’s Champions League, so just need to find some cohesion for the Cup Final.
Full-time: Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Arsenal
A conclusive victory, evidencing an even more conclusive gap between the two teams. Spurs played with intensity, intent, confidence and conviction, while Arsenal did none of the above. It’s unlikely to be enough to win them the league, but but they’re an absolute pleasure. Arsenal, on the other hand, look clueless; they are ludicrously less good than Spurs now.
90+4 min “Re Oxlade-Chamberlain,” emails Dean Palmer, “most of the Arsenal team have been rubbish today, but I would posit that - aside from overcommitting on the chance created by Son - he has played extremely well. Dare I say it? He is our version of James Milner; capable of playing as an above average replacement player no matter where he is deployed.”
That’d be a shame - I think he’s a talent, far more so than Milner. He just needs coaching, a run without injury, and improve his game intelligence.
90+2 min Spurs are absolutely devouring the buzz - they’re playing with so much joy and confidence. So Davies burrows forward, around a couple of challenges before he’s finally unloaded close to the edge of the box.
90+1 min Lovely pass from Alli, releasing Kane down the left. He bulls further down the line, wins a throw, and Sissoko replaces Alli.
90 min There shall be four added minutes.
89 min “How do Spurs improve? Two ways, neither of which are possible. 1) Find a way to not play at Wembley next season and 2) buy Gareth Bale back.
Yes, it’ll be interesting to see how a bigger pitch and rubbisher atmosphere affect them; the Champions League nights were not good at all. They also need to find a striker prepared to sit on the bench who’s better than Vincent Janssen.
88 min Walker, who appears to have fallen out of favour with Pochettino, replaces Trippier.
86 min Ramsey slides a pass square for Walcott; he punches a shot from the edge of the box directly into Lloris’ midriff.
85 min As for Arsenal, it may just get worse before it gets better. Surely Sanchez isn’t putting up with any more of this; surly Sanchez if he’s forced to anyway. And him aside, how many players would any new manager be desperate to keep?
84 min So, how do Spurs improve next season? The majority of their players are young enough to just get better - Dembele, especially, has another level to find - but what do they need to win the title? A winger, for sure, but otherwise?
82 min “Have Spurs played well?” asks Charles Antaki. “Not especially. But Arsenal in this kind of mood will reward anything halfway solid and penetrative. Difficult to pick out which Arsenal player has performed least impressively, in part because they’ve taken it in turns to disappear off the radar.”
In a way, but that’s what’s so impressive about Spurs. They can play ok and still wipe one of the league’s better sides off the park, because they’re so grooved, confident and powerful.
81 min Walcott replaces Giroud.
80 min Arsenal have disappeared, more or less. I’d like to see Mesut Ozil’s heatmap from today; it’ll be a Peters projection.
79 min Dembele replaces Son.
78 min What a save this is! The corner picks out Alderweireld at the near post, and he crunches a header goalwards; Cech springs to his right to push it out with a strong hand.
77 min Wanyama bursts across halfway with no one tracking his run, and casually flicks a pass out to Kane with outside of his right foot. Kane gathers and moves into the box, trying to lift the ball over Cech as he narrows the angle; the keeper does well to block behind.
76 min Monreal reaches around Kane with stud and shin, bringing him crashing to ground with anguish etched across his face. Booking.
75 min Gabriel is taken off before he gets sent-off, Bellerin replacing him.
75 min Is Dele Alli the most compelling competitor in English football? I can’t think of anyone who combined mischief and edge with quite the same verve.
73 min Giroud backs into Alderweireld, chucks arm around his back, catches phizog, and when Alderweireld goes down, the ref shows a yellow card.
71 min Kane jumps with Gabriel, catching him with a trailing arm. He’s booked.
71 min Gabriel is late and scything on Alli, so is booked.
70 min On pronunciation:
“Archie Macpherson often referred to the feared French Striker David Trousergay,” says Ryan Dunne.
“Brian Kerr, former Ireland manager and now tv and radio pundit, can never quite get the name of Lee Cattermole correctly - he calls him ‘Cattermerole’, which in his best Dublin accent comes out as ‘Cathermerole,” says Peter Lennon.
“The radio commentary for a Liverpool game the other day saw a semantic ping-pong game of pronouncing Simon Mignolet’s name: ‘Min-U-Lay’ versus ‘Mig-No-Lay’,” says Steven Hughes.
69 min Avant-garde officiating from Michael Oliver as Son flicks the ball back from the by-line, only for Sanchez to parry it with his hands above his head. No penalty, apparently.
68 min Spurs are rinsing at Arsenal now, and after a corner the ball breaks to Wanyama - he can’t quite turn on it, so lays back to Vertonghen, and he steps into a left-footer that has Cech flying across his goal to tip clear. If Arsenal get away with 2-0 here, they’ll have done very well.
65 min Change for Arsenal: Xhaka, who has done as little as he all too often does, is replaced by Welbeck.
63 min “For what it’s worth, baseball stadium designers in the USA spent the 70s and 80s building soulless bowls, but figured out about 20 years ago that you should actually make a place for the fans,” emails Matt Drake. “The new stadiums are spectacular, completely opposite of what was the case in 1985. “The new stadiums are fitted to their locations and typically have seats angled to the field of play. Colorado opens up onto the Rocky Mountains, San Francisco has a view of the Bay. St. Louis, Baltimore, San Diego, Pittsburgh are all fantastic. Apparently Atlanta’s new stadium is great. The good news ones are significant improvements.
In the 1970s, the trend was concrete bowls that could have been plopped down anywhere--they had them in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, St. Louis.”
62 min The Spurs fans are wading right in now, and a large banner is unfurled asking Arsene Wenger to sty.
60 min Ramsey winkles a pass through to Giroud on the edge of the box, but he has to take the long way round, skirting from in to out before swivelling into a left-footed shot that’s straight at Lloris.
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Arsenal (Kane pen, 57)
Kane personalities the penalty into the bottom-right side-netting; he’s scored in his last five derbies! I sense a destruction.
PENALTY TO SPURS!
Kane runs at Gabriel, goes outside him, the leg is duly extended, and Kane doesn’t need to be asked twice, vaulting over it like Olga Korbutt.
GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Arsenal (Alli, 55)
Oh this is wonderfully created by Eriksen, and how well it’s deposited smack, bang into the onion bag-lobster pot by Alli! Trippier hurls a long throw to Kane, who competes with Koscielny, and in bursts Alli - of course he does - snaffling the lose ball and moving into the box before turning back to Eriksen. In a tiny amount of space, he flicks the ball with the outside of his boot between Gabriel and Monreal, wriggles after it - wow! - and though Cech saves his shot, Alli is, of course, first to the loose ball, snapping a low finish into the empty net while in the process of falling. He really is something.
54 min Arsenal sit back as Spurs knock it about in front of them. Son then spins in behind, but goes too early and when the ball arrives into the space ahead of him, up goes the flag.