White Hart Lane
Arsene Wenger paid tribute to a resilient defensive display after Tomas Rosicky’s wondergoal secured a crucial 1-0 victory against Tottenham in the Frenchman’s 999th game in charge.
It was the sort of pragmatic display more reminiscent of a Jose Mourinho side than Wenger’s Arsenal, and shows how far the club have come since losing 2-1 at White Hart Lane this time last year.
Rosicky gave the Gunners the dream start with his spectacular strike after just two minutes. Tottenham enjoyed the lion’s share of possession, but were unable to carve out clear cut chances against the well-drilled Arsenal defence, ensuring Arsene Wenger’s side remain in the running for a fourth Premier League title.
The visitors couldn’t have asked for a better start. Sandro surrendered possession too easily in the first minute, before fine interplay between Tomas Rosicky and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain sliced through Spurs’ hopelessly exposed back four. The ball dropped to Rosicky at the edge of the Tottenham penalty area, and the Czech midfielder’s superb right-footed strike flew into the top corner, giving Hugo Lloris no chance.
The Gunners’ lead should have been doubled a quarter of an hour later. Oxlade-Chamberlain skipped past a feeble challenge from last man Nabil Bentaleb, but got his lob all wrong with the goal at his mercy, screwing his effort well wide.
Despite taking 63% of possession in the first half, Spurs failed to test Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny in the opening 45 minutes.
Arsenal then sat back, allowing the hosts back into the game. Their best chance came on 28 minutes, when Emmanuel Adebayor scrambled his chance wide under pressure from Per Mertesacker after good work from Kyle Naughton.
Tottenham had a penalty appeal on the stroke of half time after Danny Rose went down under pressure from Bacary Sagna, but referee Mike Dean remained unmoved.
Spurs came out strongly after the break, and should have equalised when Szczesny’s fumble left Nacer Chadli with the goal at his mercy. However, the Belgian winger’s shot from eight yards lacked conviction, allowing Laurent Koscielny to block on the line.
On 52 minutes, fine work from Emmanuel Adebayor released Andros Townsend, but his low ball across the six yard box evaded everybody. Then, just after the hour mark, Adebayor wasted a good chance when he headed Bentaleb’s deep cross just wide.
After a frenetic start to the second half, the game became a scrappy affair as Arsenal sought to protect their slender advantage, with Koscielny and Per Mertesacker putting in committed displays to neutralise the dangerous Adebayor. Arsene Wenger’s side ended the match with six specialist defenders on the pitch after the manager brought on Matthieu Flamini, Nacho Monreal and Thomas Vermaelen.
Despite continuing to dominate possession, Spurs had Hugo Lloris to thank for keeping the score at 1-0 after the French goalkeeper’s excellent save kept out Mertesacker.
With two minutes to go, Adebayor did well to create some space for himself at the edge of the Arsenal box, but the Togoese striker’s curling effort was comfortably saved by Szczesny. It was the keeper’s first real save of the match, and only Spurs’ second effort on target in a display which would have frustrated manager Tim Sherwood.
Wenger: “They gave everything and we needed a special resilience and good defensive performance.”
Speaking to BBC Sport, Arsene Wenger said: “We had an early lead and we were juggling between protecting the lead and finishing the game off.
“It was an unbelievable start with Tomas Rosicky’s goal coming from nowhere. Tottenham played very well. They put the effort in and had the quality to go forward but I don’t feel they had a lot of clear-cut chances.”
Arsenal now sit in third place, level on points with Liverpool and just four points behind leaders Chelsea with a game in hand. They travel to Stamford Bridge for next Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off.
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