Arsenal defeated their fierce rivals Tottenham at the Emirates and will stay at top spot even if Manchester United win tonight. It was another breathtaking and brilliant North London derby on the Saturday afternoon.
Wenger retained his first XI who had beaten Chelsea last weekend, while Juande Ramos had to major injury worries to cope with, particularly in defence. Chimbonda was paired at the centre with Younes Kaboul while Teemu Tainio was played out of position at leftback. It did not look like Spur's leaky backline was going to improve and Arsenal were looking to exploit that weakness as soon as the first whistle blew.
Arsena's attacking prowess was putting Tottenham on the backfoot for most of the time. Flamini and Toure both had early chances to open the scoring for the Gunners, but Paul Robinson was looking much more confident after his torrid period at club and international level.
The crowd were getting impatient was both sides headed back to the dressing room at half-time. Arsenal came back to the field more fired up and the spark came on the 48th minute when Adebayor slid home his 10th Premier League goal of the season.
Spurs began to take the initiative and poured forward with more urgency, and the game now had end-to-end action. Robbie Keane smashed the ball against the bar from a Lennon cross. In the 66th minute, Tottenham were rewarded for their efforts when Berbatov shot from a narrow angle, and completely surprised Arsenal goalkeeper Almunia.
Tottenham's newfound confidence gave them a penalty in the 72nd minute when Toure clipped Berbatov in the box. However, Alumunia saved Keane's spotkick and the tide turned in the Arsenal's favour again.
3 minutes later, Tottenham paid the price for a missed penalty and some slack defending when substitue Nikolas Bendtner grabbed the winner as he powered home a header from close-range. The whole of Emirates roared and they knew that these 3 points will allow Arsenal to remain at the top for yet another weekend.
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