Just need a point to keep our destiny in own hands. Thankfully got the rest of the week to rest and work on the injuries. Need Gardner fit for his pace at the back, apparently Dawson had a calf strain at the end of the ManYoo game, but hopefully that's not serious. Hopefully Teemu will be fit as well. Murphy did not impress as a sub today and Davids is well past it. We're in good form but missing too many chances. Hopefully the midfield can control the possession, no silly mistakes from the fullbacks and a goal or two from Keano or Defoe.
I'd like to see the exact same lineup as the manu game minus Davids, with Tanio/murphy to replace him. Obviously I'd rather have King back, but since that's impossible I had no problem with our two central defenders today - and I think the pace/quickness of arse's forwards would have Gardner falling about like a newborn giraffe. Wouldn't mind seeing Kelly either, but I think Stalteri's experience will help in a match of this magnitude/pressure.
Biggest game of the league season. We knew it would be as soon as the fix came out. Davenport and Dawson were incredible today. The midfield was class, but i think Tainio is better suited to these games than Davids. If fit that is. Spurs need to use Lennon more, today he was more of a spectator. He's a key weapon. I'll be watching the Villarreal match in the week keanly, hoping for some stuff to happen. Anything to benefit us. A win here is key, a draw will do. A defeat is possible but unthinkable
What we want is for one of the Villarreal South Americans to take out Henry*, lets face it if you want someone to do the cynical stuff you can always trust a South American to do it discretely. *before people go mental not a serious injury, just one that will see him out of Arsenal's remaining games and one where he will come back just in time for his medical at Barcelona. Back to this game it is the biggest North London derby for years (for us anyway). It is important that Lennon is fit for this one and maybe put Mido up front.
This is exactly what scares me. All too often teams go into games like this looking not-to-lose instead of playing to win. Almost inevitably they lose. They'll get the lead early, sit back, and stay back all game, the other team evens up the game and then scores to go ahead, and the team who was playing not-to-lose simply cannot flip a switch and start playing good attacking ball. Luckily, I think Jol will have Spurs playing to win from the outset. If not, this could end in the worst possible way. I really hope we win this one. Regardless of the outcome, this game will be talked about for a very long time. If we win 4th and Arsenal bump us out of the Champions League by winning it, that wouldn't be so bad. I have faith that we'll progress out of the UEFA spot into the Champions League anyway. But to be pipped by them at the end, that'd be quite bad. Let's play aggressively from the start. -Digital
Well if i'm honest Arsenal are favourites for 4th spot now, we'll need 6/7 points out of are last 3 games to stand a chance.
I think Davenport has some potential, but he's still pretty inexperienced at this level. I know a lot of people on this board had given up on him, but he does have talent, and it's nice to see him performing well against a class opponent. That being said, I'm uneasy about him starting against Arsenal, as they are all speed and trickery, which aren't Calum's strengths. -Digital
This game is the most important game of the season. For us and for Arsenal. Not to mention the fact that it's the last ever North London derby at Highbury. If we win then we'll almost certainly secure 4th place in the league. If we draw, then it will still be in our hands. If we lose Arsenal will probably come 4th. We all knew it would come down to this and it has. Hopefully their draining trip to Spain will help, and we'll have longer to prepare. People seem to be taking it for granted that: 1) We will beat Bolton and West Ham. 2) Arsenal win win their other games. ...but anything can happen.
Good points, but who's the other option? See my statement about newborn giraffes before saying Gardner...
That's an option - he and Davenport have both only made a handful of appearances so the experience factor would not be an issue (since neither has much). Do we think he'd handle what arse's attacking players bring better than Davenport? I think either of them would probably be better than Gardner (without Ledley there to guide him).
Stick with Dav and Daws. Did well. King is the only one who can deal with Henry so we're fuct anyway. Just a matter of what position we want to get pounded in. Draw would be the excellent.
Agreed with the defence we have and the way Arsenal are playing at home it's going to be so difficult. Just gotta hope we get something.
We have to play to win! Otherwise we will definately lose. If we play as well as we did against ManU and make one or two changes we will be alright I think.
In the preseason I picked the top 5 as follows: 1. Man U 2. Chelsea 3. Liverpool 4. Tottenham 5. Arsenal Until united lost agaisnt Sunderland it looked like I was going to be hailed a genius. Ah well I'll settle for Arsenal getting knocked out of the CL can't stand Gooners.
I tend to agree here... but Spurs have been playing like that for some time (get a lead then bunker) with mixed results. They finally came out and played aggressive attacking football... but it's a funny game. Despite having the edge, the chances and a good deal of the possession we still lost. But I'd rather lose this way than lose like we have in the last dying minutes of a game trying to hold on. Considering the circumstances (Villarreal ties before and after) and our recent showings against them I'd like to think this is our best shot to win at the library... Ledley's injury dents this a bit but Dawson and Davenport did well against ManUre so anything is possible. I disagree... losing 4th either way is a tragedy but Arse fans will be having a laugh for eternity and not only be talking about being European Champions but knocking Spurs out of the CL in the process. This cannot happen! If it does Spurs better have some huge kharma result against the Arse coming their way as payback!
So, this what everybody thinking... ---------------- Robinson ---------------- Stalteri -- Dawson -- Davenport -- Lee Lennon --- Carrick ---- Jenas --- Tainio ----------- Keane --- Defoe ------------- if Tainio out... ---------------- Robinson ---------------- Stalteri -- Dawson -- Davenport -- Lee Lennon --- Carrick --- Jenas --- Murphy ----------- Keane --- Defoe -------------
Tottenham Hotspurs.... Please beat Arsenal and make it to the CL next year. You have over 40 million Koreans supporting you.
Came across this interesting bit of pre-game info while checking our overall record against Arse on different sites... This is a good omen! Let's go out with a win in our last league game at Highbury too!
I'm confident we can get a result. Granted our record at Highbury in recent times isn't that good. Nonetheless, this is an important game so we HAVE to be up for it!