How foolish of me to forget that as poor as we can be we can always rely on Tottenham to be even worse!
We dominated the game for large parts & although our penalties looked on the soft side it would have been a travesty if we didn't win this gamer by at least the 3 goal margin we managed.
Rumours abound about a rift between Thierry & Arsene if these are true then we must remember that no player is bigger than the club & I hope Wengers reported "chat" will firmly point this out to him.
Lehmann - 7 - The expected onslaught never materialised, Jens had a quiet day between the sticks parrying one long range effort from Jenas.
Eboue - 7 - Back in the team in place of Justin Hoyte who impressed against Fulham. Defended well & pushed forward when he could.
Toure - 7 - Wont get many easier afternoons than today. Did all he needed to do satisfactorily & set up our opening goal.
Djourou - 7 - Defended well, got forward & should have scored from Van Persie's free kick.
Clichy - 7 - Much better performance today & hopefully this will give him the confident boost he needs.
Ljungberg - 7 -Freddie is back! By far his best performance for quite sometime. Worked hard for the team & linked up well with Eboue.
Fabregas - 7 - used the ball sensibly always willing to put his foot in & outplayed our opponents in the middle of the park.
Gilberto - 8 - As usual the backbone of our performance helped out defensively & started most of our attacks. Coolly slotted away his two penalties
Rosicky - 6 - Not at his best but Chimbonda will know he has been in a game! Brought down in the box for our first penalty.(Hleb 55)
Adebayor - 9 - Worked hard all afternoon & was a handful for the Tottenham defence. Kept a cool head when slotting home Toure's fine ball. (Walcott 87)
Van Persie - 7 - Some nice touches & a thorn in our opponents side. Jenas brought him down for our second penalty after some handy work outside the box by Robin. (Julio Baptista 80).
Subs
Hleb - 7 - (55) Put some important tackles in late on & kept & used the ball well
Baptista - 5 - (80) His first taste of a London derby, did ok.
Walcott - No rating - (87) Not on for long enough to make any impression, but his arrival did allow Adebayor a well deserved standing ovation.
Subs Not Used: Almunia, Hoyte.
LIVE SCORES
