Harry Kane’s 49th minute header was enough to see Spurs claim the bragging rights in the 195th North London derby. That was Harry Kane’s 7th goal in 6 Derby games as Arsenal’s poor away form continued.
If there ever was a game to show the problems of Arsenal,it was this one and as fans have been promised of a re-building process going on at the club, they would be hoping that Chief scout ,Sven Mislintat paid particular attention to certain key areas. Arsenal set up in a 4-3-3 with a flat midfield trio of Xhaka, El Nenny and Wilshere to provide a better defensive shield against the more composed midfield of Spurs and to annul the attacking threat they posed. It worked in the first half as Spurs were forced out wide on several occasions, limiting Harry Kane to just one half chance at goal in the opening 45. Spurs started the second half on the front foot and hit arsenal even before they could settle after the break. The little resistance was broken , the shape was destroyed and arsenal were open. It took some woeful finishing coupled with awesome goalkeeping to keep the scoreline at 1-0. Although two big chances from Lacazette could have changed the complexion of the game, there was only one team that deserved the three points and Arsenal were second best in every department.
It’s the Gunners 7th loss on the road this season, and they have picked up 14 points in 13 away games. 45 points from 27 games is the worst performance in the last 21 years and the gunners now have a slim chance of being in the Champions League spots this season. The Europa league becomes even more important now and should be the primary focus now.
For Tottenham, they now turn attention to the champions league and the FA cup as they search for silverware this season. A trip to Turin proves a tricky encounter where they face a Juventus side that have conceded only one goal in their last 17 games. But with a free scoring striker in Harry Kane, spurs will fancy their chances.
City Flying
Manchester City put 5 past Leicester in the Saturday late kick off. A four goal haul by Sergio Aguero and a hattrick of premier league assists for Kevin De Bruyne. A Vardy equaliser after city’s first threatened to spoil the party but a remarkable second half performance from Sergio Aguero secured all three points from Guardiola’s men who extended their lead at the top to 16 points. They looked to have all but secured the premier league title as 5 wins is all they need to become champions. They don’t play a premier league game till March while their next four games features all four competitions they still have a shot at winning. The quadruple looks a far shot but at least they still have a respectable chance of staging a surprise trophy haul.
United slip up
Manchester United fell short at St. James Park as a 65th minute Matt Ritchie goal was enough to clinch all three points for Newcastle United. The magpies, who are in the middle of a major relegation battle produced a very resilient performance as they battled for a well deserved win against a lackluster Manchester United side. Chris Smalling’s rather stupid dive in the 65th minute proved costly with Newcastle scoring from the resulting free-kick . Alexis Sanchez missed a glorious opportunity moments before the goal on a day where everything just wasn’t right for United. United now lie in second place, 16 points behind leaders Manchester City and just two points ahead of Liverpool in third place. The league is all by lost now but even worse is the fact that recent results mean United could possibly give City a guard of honour when both sides face each other in the Manchester Derby come April. The “noisy neighbours” are about to get even louder.
Madrid score 5
Real Madrid beat Sociedad 5-2 on Saturday in La Liga. The side that have endured a very tough campaign this term responded well to their disappointing draw with Levante last week with a thumping victory with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a hattrick . With a cruch Champions League tie with PSG on Wednesday in sight, this win comes at the best time for Madrid as they prepare to face the competitions top performers and deadliest attack.
Penalty Fest in Kumasi.
Never in my 16 years of watching football have I seen anything like this. You have to go back to 1989 when referee Kelvin Morton awarded five penalties in an English league game between Crystal Palace and Brighton and Hove Albion. Similar to this case, he awarded 4 to the home team, who scored one with the away team also missing theirs. This time however, it was Kotoko in the place of Palace while CARA was Brighton. 4 penalties in the game for Kotoko, 3 missed through Saddick Adams, Amos Frimpong and Baba Mahama. Yakubu Mohammed however came off the bench and slotted home the fifth penalty of the game, the fourth for Kotoko in the 94th minute. CARA also had a penalty , which their goalkeeper who had saved three earlier also had his saved. It’s all to play for now in 10 days time in Brazzaville as Kotoko look to progress in the CAF confederations cup.
BONUS
The champions league returns with some interesting match ups. Both Tottenham and PSG face tough trips to Turin and Madrid to face Juventus and Real Madrid respectively. All four teams recorded impressive wins this past weekend as they prepare for their crucial encounters. For Madrid, they face the deadliest attacking trio (Neymar -Cavani-Mbappe) in the UCL this season. Madrid and will be looking at this competition that has been very good to them -in the last 4 years in particular – to save their season while PSG’s big summer investments was all geared towards winning this competition.
From all of us here at The Green Turf, we wish everyone a good week and a happy Valentine’s Day on Wednesday.
Avot.
The Green Turf 