Dreams End at White Hart Lane

**** Many many thanks to Sumit Gangwani, who has penned this article in my absence****

Couldn't have asked for a bigger game to ascertain our title credentials midweek. This game, where we have traditionally held the upper edge, was never likely to be easy. The Gunners were haunted by injuries to key personnel - our main defender, our best midfielders and one of our star strikers (or a 'forward', as you can call Arshavin in our system of play). The only good news was that dear ol' Robin was back on the bench. The odds seemed against us, but c'mon, it was Spurs, right? We have not lost to the spuds for 10 years now. Surely we could win here tonight?

The match started evenly and soon Sol guided a corner kick towards the goal only to be blocked by last man on the line. I thought it was going pretty well till that 19 year old imp scored the first goal through an outstanding volley in the 9th minute of his debut. On the first view, I felt Almunia should have powered the corner harder. But on watching the replays, I feel it would not be justified to blame Almunia. That sheer lucky brilliance of Danny Rose was destined for goal. 9 out of 10 times he wouldn't score that even in an empty net. But as I said, it seemed to be destined this time.

Arsenal's spirit was evident when they didn't even wait for Spurs to complete celebrations of first goal and started the game. I was happy seeing that they still wanted to win this game. Then came the moment which I believe changed the course of  the game. We lost our best defender, our bravest soldier to injury. Vermaelen's injury was a huge blow. Le Professeur was left with no choice but to throw Silvestre on the field. With a huge challenge to surmount, we seemed mediocre throughout. We had a lot of possession, but failed to make any use of it. Not surprising from a team deviod of Fabregas, Arshavin and van Persie.

Minutes after half time, Silvestre showed why Wenger rates him below Vermaelen, Gallas, Song and even Campbell. Sometimes I feel bad about being harsh on him, but I now think he deserves all the criticism he gets. Yes, he is close to retirement and age has caught up with him. But look at Sol Campbell. He, as he once again came up with superb performance, proved that he still has lot of fighting spirit left.

We seemed to be devoid of any quality till the introduction of Robin brought a new life to the team. With his first touch, control, positioning and his shots, he provided Bendtner with a 20 minute lesson in the art of being a striker. Within a span of 10 minutes RvP was able to make 3 genuine attempts goal, forcing brilliant saves from Gomes. Wonder where we would have been had RvP been available throughout the season. I still feel a sharp pain just wondering what could have been.

As tears rolled down, Arsenal fans realised that the trophy will have to wait. Wenger has been successful bringing unknown talents to such a stage, but has no silverware to show for his amazing achievements at Arsenal. Going forward he will definitely need to make changes. I personally feel we should get rid of Silvestere, Denilson, Fabianski, Almunia and fill up the holes with quality players. We clearly lacked the depth when we had injuries. 5 senior players being absent clearly was a genuine handicap, but history will only record that we lost title at White Hart Lane.


No matter what, though, we love Arsenal we will always love the team and Wenger. In Arsene We Trust.