Tottenham Hotspur 1 Arsenal 2
The first reaction was one of astonishment, of amazement at how the man in Arsenal red had judged the drop of the high ball and timed a simply glorious right-footed volley into the bottom corner of the net to settle this frenetic north London derby. The feeling deepened when the identity of the scorer became clear.
Mathieu Flamini is not supposed to score the goals, let alone one as beautiful as this. And it was the defensive midfielder’s second of the evening. As Tottenham hearts sank, Flamini – who Arsenal had tried to sell in the summer – beat his own with his fist and revelled in his moment in front of the ecstatic travelling supporters.
Tottenham contributed to a helter-skelter Capital One Cup tie and for much of the second half they had looked the smarter bet for victory. Their regrets centred upon the moment when Harry Kane watched his acrobatic volley from Andros Townsend’s corner headed off the line by Kieran Gibbs.
But Arsenal came on strong at the end to earn a result that was sorely needed. After the back-to-back losses against Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League and Chelsea nobody at the club wanted to contemplate a third straight defeat for the first time since 2010. Thanks to Flamini they did not have to.
To paraphrase the managers, this one mattered more than the average League Cup third-round tie although both of them seemed to have been more than a little preoccupied with Saturday’s Premier League fixtures. A pre-match distraction took in the question about how many of the respective starting players would make their club’s strongest XIs. It was surely no more than a handful. Tottenham probably had more of them.
With reconfigured defences on both sides – Tottenham’s had never previously played together – it seemed as though there would be goals but one thing was clear at the outset; the occasion would pulse with emotion. There were plenty of sore throats among the supporters afterwards.
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Meetings between these two rivals are invariably chaotic and, given the chronic traffic problems leading into White Hart Lane, it was a wonder the stadium was full at kick-off time. The Arsenal team bus rolled in only 45 minutes before the opening whistle but there were no related wobbles in the early running for Arsène Wenger’s players.
It was fast and furious and, after an opening phase of feverish work on both sides and much cancelling out, Arsenal took the lead. It was not a goal that Michel Vorm, in for Hugo Lloris in the Tottenham goal, will enjoy watching back. Arsenal worked the ball smartly for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and he struck powerfully from just outside the area.
Vorm got down and across to save but he succeeded only in parrying the ball out into the centre of his goal and, as Tottenham’s defenders reacted in slow motion, there was Mathieu Flamini converging with the ball to bang it into the roof of the net. Flamini does not score many and this was some way to mark his first appearance of the season. There was even an attitude-based, fronting-up celebration in front of the Paxton Road end, which went down predictably badly but was entirely in keeping with the tone of the occasion.
Flamini’s goal stoked the intensity even further. The tackles flew in – Arsenal had three men booked inside seven minutes as the interval approached – and there was baying and howling for each one of the referee, Andre Marriner’s, decisions.
Arsenal shaded the first half and they created the first chance on 14 minutes when Aaron Ramsey released Kieran Gibbs and his cross was almost touched goalwards by Olivier Giroud. At the second bite Joel Campbell headed high at the far post.
Danny Rose marauded forward from left-back for Tottenham and twice he had the sniff of a chance – on the first occasion, he dragged a shot wide of the near post – but there were also jitters in the home team’s backline before the break.
