Sparkling Arsenal Disappoint the Press

Getting some members of the sporting press to acknowledge that Arsenal played extremely well in the North London derby and thoroughly deserved their victory against Spurs was evidently as difficult an operation as the extraction of wisdom teeth.

In many cases, they clearly preferred to concentrate on the alleged rift between Arsene Wenger and his captain, flaunting headlines such as “Henry’s a Goner” and “Gunners at War” and speculating about the Frenchman’s appearance pitch side as a sort of unofficial cheerleader and motivator. By contrast, Rob Beasley of the News of the World, having taken the trouble to attend the match, chose virtually to ignore the action in favour of an unrelenting (and largely unfair) diatribe directed against referee Graham Poll.

So, for the record, a much criticised Arsenal side, without the services of their leader and star striker or the experienced William Gallas, outplayed Spurs so comprehensively that in the end it was the quality and fluency of their football that mattered rather than the idiosyncrasies of the people paid to report it – at least as far as the fans were concerned.

And it is worth pointing out that a performance such as this in the testing circumstances of a North London derby indicates that recent reports of a ‘crisis’ at Arsenal have been greatly exaggerated.