The scene of William Gallas leaving the pitch cursing in French(I presume) is so much last season’s anthic against Birmingham and like that match, today’s can easily be a turning point into the season. And let me tell you something, how on earth we’re only six points from the top is by far beyond me.

It was a dream start in the 2nd half with Van Persie winning a free-kick which didn’t look like to me, delivering the ball into the area for Gallas to head home. The momentum was there and we kept on building chances, including a Denilson long-range effort saved into a corner by Gomez. Minutes later, Adebayor had a glorious chance but blasted it wide.

In the 64th minute, it was Van Persie magic. He took the ball in midfield, twisted and turned brilliantly and like a true maestro feeded it long to Nasri, who chipped the keeper, enough to find Adebayor who fired it in from very close range. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long. Three minutes later, a 20-yard strike from Huddlestone is not held by Almunia and Bent is quick to bounce at it and open the match again.

Luckily for us, an awful Hutton pass let Adebayor in only one minute after Spurs’ goal, with the Togo man finding Van Persie who made his way into the penalty area and blasted it home with his right foot for 4-2.

It had to be one of those matches, and the final minutes showed that. Theo Walcott wasted yet another chance when his right-footed strike was easily saved by Gomez. In the 74th minute, glorious chance for Van Persie who failed to make contact with a Samir Nasri cross from the left. In the 80th minute, lovely move in midfield, cross from the right but Adebayor didn’t really know what to do. Awful match from him.

The final minutes were a nightmare. In the 89th minute, Clichy slipped, gave the ball away to Jermaine Jenas who collected it, ran at our defence, got to the edge of the area and slotted it into the top corner. Then, in stoppage time, Luka Modric hit one from the edge of the box which Almunia could only deflect on the post but it backs off for Aaron Lennon to tap in the rebound.

You simply have to feel physically sick following those last minutes. After this match, I have strong doubts on what this team can achieve. I’ve been asking questions on the way we defend since the start of the season but apparently, no-one is listening. Had we won, it would have been all laughs and celebrations as it had always been after a win in a match where the team was awful in several parts of the pitch. We should have scored 6 today, if not more, but that will never happen until Wenger insists with this forward line.


Player Ratings

Almunia: 4 – What the hell happened today, Manuel?
Gallas: 6 – So-and-so, can’t take away credit for the goal though.
Silvestre: 5,5 – I’m still not 100% convinced about him, nice to see him score but we conceded four, questions have to be asked.
Clichy: 5 – Bad time to slip.
Sagna: 4,5 – On his comeback he wasn’t as sharp as last season, a shadow of the man who made it into last season’s best 11 of the premiership.
Denilson: 6 – Wenger keeps on insisting with him alongside Fabregas. He did well today, but again got in the way of the Spaniard way too much.
Fabregas: 6 – Not sure what’s wrong with him, well, maybe Denilson.
Nasri: 6 – Contrary to Sunday he was very alive but still not as sharp as in his best performances.
Walcott: 5 – Too wasteful.
Van Persie: 7 – So much like West Ham, a quiet first half, came to life in the second.
Adebayor: 3 – Where’s the Emmanuel who runs and fights for the ball?

(Subs)
Diaby: 5,5 – Didn’t really know in which position to play.
Eboue: 5 – Came in for the worst part of the match.
Song: No vote.