Arsenal (1) 2 v 1 (1) Tottenham Hotspur
44 Odegaard, assist Tierney 33 Lamela
76 Lacazette (penalty)
Yellows; Xhaka Reguilon, Hojbjerg, Sanchez, Lamela (x2=Red)
Played Sunday 14 March 2021 at an empty Emirates Stadium.
The Arsenal FC started as a team of workers from the Woolwich Arsenal Armament Factory in 1886 calling themselves Dial Square, then Royal Arsenal. In 1913 as Woolwich Arsenal they moved to north London and Highbury Stadium, dropped the suffix Royal to their name in 1915, and in 1919 were elected to the Football League Division 1. Tottenham Hotspurhad to wait a season for their earned promotion and so the first geographically correct north London derby took place in January 1921. Who would then have thought that 100 years later an Argentinian footballer would score an audaciously wonderful “rabona” goal in a north London derby and something called the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system would be causing such division and controversy in the game of football.
When Spurs’ Eric Lamela raised his left arm to the vertical to counterbalance his awesome left foot shot 3 Gunners’ defenders and goalkeeper were in front of him and nowhere near his arm. When he raised his right arm to the horizontal while winning the ball in a tackle with Kieran Tierney his hand hit the defender on the chin and he was sent off for this his second yellow card offence in the second half.
Loanee Martin Odegaard equalized just before half-time – a typical Spurs’ push-over time.The winner is where the VAR controversy comes in especially for neutrals if there are any! VAR in the control of Paul Tierney agreed that on field Referee Michael Oliver did not make a “clear and obvious error” awarding a penalty to Arsenal following Spurs’ defender Davinson Sanchez collision with Gunner Alexandre Lacazette. A still photograph shows Sanchez sitting on the ground with legs outstretched away from Lacazette who has both feet on the ground and has run into the back of Sanchez. He appears to be screaming perhaps because he miskicked the ball which is still in the air. He did not even have to get up to score the penalty. Arsenal may have deserved to win but not in this way.
The Gunners are in our next Premier London Derby (PLDs) match which is West Ham United v Arsenal on Sunday 21 March at the London Stadium. Results have previously favoured the visitors: 1-5 in 2016-17; 0-0 in 2017-18; 1-0 in 2018-19; and 1-3 in 2019-20, but the Hammers are playing good football and it may be their turn this season.
There will be no north London derby in the Europa League as Tottenham Hotspur failed to defend a 2 goal lead against Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia on Thursday. Was the damage already done when UEFA told Spurs to play the first leg at home because Arsenal were also drawn away but as domestic FA Cup Winners had precedence over Spurs?
Until next time, “Keep Safe” and enjoy your football whatever, Andrew at PLDs.