West Ham United (2) 2 v 5 (5) Arsenal
Played at The London Stadium Saturday 30 November 2024, attendance 62,475.
This was Bukayo Saka’s match. He had a hand, or rather foot, in 4 of the Arsenal goals: the corner kick for Gabriel (10 mins.); the assist for Trossard (27); he was fouled for Odegaard’s penalty (34); and scored a penalty himself (45+5) after Hammers’ goalkeeper Lucaz Fabianski had punched Gabriel and not the ball. In between Havertz scored The Gunners 4th goal (36), and Wan-Bissaka (38) and Emerson (40) scored the two for West Ham United. It was all over by half-time, and many home fans felt so too.
Tottenham Hotspur (0) 1 v1 (0) Fulham
54 Johnson, assist Werner 67 Cairney, assist Iwobi
83 Cairney Red card.
Yellows: no one Lukic Referee: Darren Bond
Played Sunday 1 December 2024 at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium att. 61,141.
Inconsistent, inaccurate in their passing and sort of injury hit Tottenham Hotspur huffed and puffed against a determined Fulham but got nowhere. The high-speed wing duo of Brennan Johnson and Timo Werner combined again to give Spurs an early second-half lead which they failed to capitalise on. Enter The Cottagers’ Tom Cairney who first equalized with an edge of the area shot on 67 minutes, then got sent off for a bad foul tackle from behind on Dejan Kulusevski on 83, but still the hosts could not do it.
Both Clubs will be involved in the next Premier London Derbies (PLDs) matches after the mid-week round of Premier League (PL) fixtures. On Sunday 8 December 2024 it’s Fulham v Arsenal at 2 pm, followed by Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea at 4 30 pm. On past PLDs and current PL form it looks like two away wins here. Fulham beat Arsenal last season having lost the previous three encounters. Spurs have both beaten but lost heavily to Chelsea the overall total being 5 wins to 3 in The Blues favour. We shall see.
Until next time, “Keep Safe” and enjoy your football, Andrew at PLDs.