It’s the second consecutive goalless draw for the Gunners but contrary to last week, we should consider ourselves satisfied with the score line. Some of the players, like Gallas, Song and Van Persie, simply gave it all so thumbs up for that. Unfortunately though, for an Eduardo who makes a comeback on the bench, we lose Adebayor and Clichy, the first one for three weeks, the second yet to be assessed.

The second half, as expected, saw Spurs enjoying most of the possession. In the 49th minute, Toure completely loses his balance to let Pavlyuchenko through but the Russian blasts it wide from close range. In the 56th minute, Almunia almost ruined his perfect performance as he makes a mess in trying to meet a cross but luckily, Keane’s header is wide.

Arsenal’s first goal opportunity came in the 66th minute. A poor Nasri corner somehow drops to van Persie who does brilliantly to turn and shoot but his fierce left-footed strike goes wide of Cudicini. Three minutes later, a van Persie corner drops to Song who incredibly failed to hit the target from very close range.

Amazingly, Spurs failed to create as much as one would have expected them to during the half but went close in the 71st minute after Toure hesitated, the ball dropped to Keane but his volley went wide. The final minutes of the half could have seen the match swing either way: first it was Bendtner who had a shot saved for a corner, out of which Spurs counter-attacked with Almunia saving the day for the Gunners from Modric.

Is it a good result? It definitely is, but more questions will be raised, especially on Eboue. Arshavin and Eduardo, both on the bench, were not utilised and maybe it would have made sense to use one of them especially in the dying minutes of the half when the sides were exposed. We are now five points behind Chelsea, which, for all we have seen so far, could have been much, much more.

Player Ratings

Almunia: 8 – I was frustrated in the first minutes of the match when he failed to come out and give confidence to the backline, but as the match progressed, he was superb.
Clichy: 6 – Let’s hope his injury is not as serious as it seems. As it’s been in recent matches, he gave way too much space to the players on his wing and we’re lucky Spurs didn’t attack more from his side.
Gallas: 7 – A very solid performance from William. It was all defending for almost all 90 minutes and he had answers to almost anything thrown at him.
Toure: 6 – Contrary to Gallas he hesitated in more than one occassion, especially when he let Pavlyuchenko at the start of the second half. Luckily, he got away with it.
Sagna: 6 – Earlier this week I read somewhere that he can’t cross. I’m afraid I have to agree with that, he’s just not performing like last season. Did his defensive duties well, nonetheless.
Denilson: 4 – Yet another awful performance. Can’t understand why he walks when he sees opponents surging forward rather than closing them down. Basically failed in anything he tried and my heart missed a beat or two when he gave the ball away cheaply in dangerous areas.
Song: 7,5 – Brilliant, simply brilliant. I can’t really blame him for missing that glorious chance as he just doesn’t possess the killing instinct of a striker but as a holdind midfielder he was superb today.
Eboue: 0 – No Comment.
Nasri: 5,5 – Very little involved and it comes as a surprise when you consider that both Song and Denilson are not capable of creating for the strikers and hence play is always shifted on the wings.
Adebayor: 4 – Didn’t really do much before limping off. Is his injury a blessing in disguise?
Van Persie: 6,5 – Was not easy today but he still managed to invent something for his team-mates.

(Subs)
Bendtner: 5,5 – Not the best of matches for Nicklas but let’s face it, he was more active than Adebayor.
Gibbs: No Vote