FA Premiership/ Arsenal 2; Tottenham 1: Should the championship come to Highbury for a 12th time, and the second time in the Premier League under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal will no doubt keep a special place in the memory for the moment when a cool head from Londi Kribi outwitted a jumping bean from Washington.
The situation in which Lauren, Arsenal's Cameroonian wing-back, found himself four minutes from the end of Saturday's north London derby against Tottenham was bizarre. His team had been awarded a penalty and with it the chance to recapture the place at the top of the table stolen by Manchester United over lunch at Leicester, but who was to take the kick?
Thierry Henry, the first choice, had needed treatment on the pitch following the challenge by Dean Richards that was adjudged a foul by the referee Mark Halsey. According to modern convention, therefore, he had to go off and await permission to rejoin the game once play had restarted with the penalty.
Wenger had already withdrawn his only other nominated penalty-taker, Edu, and Dennis Bergkamp had also been substituted. "I noticed nobody took the ball," said the Arsenal manager afterwards, "but Lauren has scored penalties for Cameroon. He has the nerve and he is a strong boy."
Strong enough, certainly, for the task in hand. Ignoring the up-and-down antics of Kasey Keller, Lauren approached the ball without pausing in his step but still leaving enough time for the Tottenham goalkeeper to decide which way to dive. Lauren then aimed his kick at the exact spot that was being vacated by the American, and now Arsenal are not only two points ahead of United with a match in hand but four in front of Liverpool.
The worth of Arsenal's eighth successive league victory, which extended their unbeaten run in the Premiership to 16 matches, was never in doubt. From first to last they were Spurs' superiors in the fundamentals of pace, passing, tackling, movement, vision and teamwork.
Yet they still needed Lauren's penalty to extricate themselves from the consequences of failing to reflect this superiority with anything more tangible than the goal scored by Fredrik Ljungberg midway through the first half. And all too often 1-0 leads in local derbies turn out to be a dangerously slim lead.
Referee Halsey's decision to award Tottenham a penalty nine minutes from the end after what appeared to be nothing more than a collision between David Seaman and Gustavo Poyet, after the Uruguayan had been sent clear by Tim Sherwood, surprised everyone. But Teddy Sheringham's precise kick buried itself in the left-hand corner of the net.
At the other end, Richards and Henry both fell over amid a general tumble of bodies but because the Spurs defender was trying to reach the ball from behind the Arsenal striker he was penalised.
Wenger's joy after Lauren's goal betrayed the anxiety Arsenal harboured. "There was a lot of tension out there," he said. "I knew we would need a second goal."
Yet Seaman had not faced a serious shot until Sheringham's penalty, and Wenger took off his two best players, Bergkamp and Edu, before Tottenham drew level.
Exquisite passes from Bergkamp had twice set up Ljungberg for scoring attempts before a third found the Swede breaking clear. He scored with a shot that trickled over the line after the pace had been taken off it by Keller's foot.
ARSENAL: Seaman, Luzhny, Campbell, Adams, Lauren, Wiltord (Dixon 87), Vieira, Edu (Kanu 83), Ljungberg, Henry, Bergkamp (Parlour 72). Subs Not Used: Keown, Wright. Booked: Bergkamp. Goals: Ljungberg 24, Lauren 86 pen.
TOTTENHAM: Keller, King (Davies 45), Perry, Richards, Gardner, Anderton, Sherwood, Ziege (Etherington 78), Poyet, Sheringham, Iversen (Rebrov 53). Subs Not Used: Thatcher, Herschfeld. Booked: Poyet, Sheringham, Sherwood, Perry. Goals: Sheringham 81 pen.
Referee: M Halsey.
