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48 min: The Arsenal equaliser has been credited to Solanke. An own goal. Gabriel’s header not on target.
46 min: Sterling has acres of space to advance down the middle of the pitch. Nothing comes of it, but is that an immediate harbinger of things to come after that super-attacking double substitution?
Arsenal get the second half started. Spurs have made a bold double change, sending on Maddison and Johnson for Bissouma and Saar. Suffice to say Big Ange isn’t in the mood to die wondering.
That corner, then. TNT Sports have shown a replay that clearly shows the ball coming off Trossard’s knee when he was still on the pitch.
Half-time entertainment. This is a great story. Just how did an ageing non-league defender end up captaining City to four major trophies in three years?
It took a late turnaround, but Arsenal lead at the break. On the balance of play, it’s hard to argue that they don’t deserve it. Son’s not happy, though, and the Spurs captain tells the referee how he sees it, no doubt referencing the corner that led to the equaliser that shifted the balance of this entertaining north London derby. More please!
45 min +4: “Man of the First Half has to be Trossard, no doubt about it,” writes Michael Cosgrove, inventing a thing. “Some lovely dribbling, very high work rate and a sumptuous goal, I’ve not seen him play this well for a good while.”
45 min +3: Havertz is given time and space to turn in the Spurs box, aiming a shot towards the top left. It’s blocked. Spurs desperately need to hear the half-time whistle.
45 min +1: The first of four additional minutes goes by without incident. “In general, I think VAR detracts more from the spectacle than it makes up in accuracy,” writes Kári Tulinius. “However, if we have to suffer it, then the least they could do is have a quick look whether a corner was given in error. I say this even if my team benefited this time.”
45 min: That’s a fine goal from Arsenal’s point of view – Partey won the ball well off Bissouma to start the move off – but it’s not great from Kinsky, who got a touch on the shot but not a significant one. Four minutes and seven seconds between the goals!
An inexplicable amount of space for Trossard down the inside-left channel. Dragusin dozing. Trossard advances to the edge of the box and unleashes a bouncing bomb across Kinsky and into the bottom right. What a turnaround!
42 min: Rice goes into the book for landing his studs atop Dragusin’s boot. He caught a little bit of shin, but not enough for VAR to get involved.
41 min: Should it have been a corner? Looks like Trossard’s cross hit Porro and came back off the Arsenal man. Maybe Trossard was off the pitch when the ball hit him. Either way, here we are. “Huzzah for corners!” cheers Danny Whybrow of 35-minute fame. You get the karmic assist, without question.
[EDIT: Replays show the ball coming off Trossard’s knee when he was still on the pitch]
Another Arsenal corner from the left. Rice hits it long. Kinsky punches again … but this time he misses, and Gabriel squeezes a header into the net from a tight angle on the right. The last touch might have come off Solanke, but Gabriel forced it in, and celebrates.
The ball crosses the line after a header from Gabriel of Arsenal and parity is restored. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
Which Gabriel is quite happy about. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
38 min: Kinsky is once again nearly closed down by Havertz. Dear me.
37 min: Arsenal pass it around awhile, probing hither and yon. Sterling tries to beat Spence in a footrace down the right, but the Spurs man is too quick for him. He nips in ahead and shepherds the ball out for a goal kick.
35 min: Rice curls the corner in from the left. Kinsky punches clear again. This is getting old. Speaking of which, here’s Danny Whybrow: “Enough with the corners already. We used to play half-decent football till that corner coach came along. Now we can’t shoot for toffee and we’ve stopped scoring from corners. I’m sick of corners.”
34 min: Odegaard wedges the free kick across towards Gabriel, but Bissouma heads behind for a corner.
33 min: Kulusevski tries to steal the ball off Odegaard, who is sizing things up to the right of the D. The Spurs winger only succeeds in skittling his opponent to the floor. Free kick in a very dangerous position.
32 min: Porro gets back on his feet and trots to the touchline. Play restarts. Arsenal’s attack comes to nowt, then Porro comes back on to a cacophony of abuse.
30 min: Trossard Cruyff Turns his way past Porro on the left. It’s a stunning piece of skill, and one which leaves Porro writhing around on the floor in agony. He might have twisted something, studs caught in the turf? Hopefully not. But it’s not a head injury, so the home fans aren’t happy when, once Trossard fails to find anyone with his cross, the referee stops play when Partey has possession 25 yards from goal.
28 min: Sarr is stupidly booked for blootering the ball away after conceding a garden-variety free-kick in midfield.
27 min: Sarr was given a ludicrous amount of time and space to advance up the pitch by Partey there. Now Bissouma is allowed to wander at will down the left. Saliba comes across to take control and usher the ball out for a goal kick, but this has to be a concern for Arsenal, with their midfielders suddenly not at the races at all.
The corner’s swung in from the right, and half cleared. The ball drops to Son on the edge of the D. He volleys low and hard. A big deflection off Saliba, and the ball trundles into the bottom right, very much against the run of play!
Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min strokes the ball home to open the scoring at Arsenal. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters
Here’s a view of the finish from the other end of the pitch. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
Son (left) celebrates with Radu Dragusin. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters
25 min: That’s given Spurs some belief, though. Sarr strides down the right, almost the entire length of the pitch, winning a corner. And from that …
23 min: Nothing comes of the second corner. Spurs, despite having been penned in for the first 20 minutes of this match, should be leading.
22 min: The corner comes in from the right. Kulusevski takes a touch on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box, and inexplicably goes for the near corner instead of the far, allowing Raya to turn around the post for another corner.
21 min: Kinsky is once again nearly robbed by Havertz, but again he gets away with his mistake – a heavy touch this time – and sets Spurs off on the attack. Spence bombs down the left and curls low into the Arsenal box. Gabriel hooks out for a corner with Solanke lurking.
19 min: … but it’s better from Kinsky as he punches yet another Arsenal corner clear with confidence.
18 min: Kinsky dawdles with the ball at his feet and his eventual attempt at a pass out is blocked by the sliding Havertz. Hideous Kinsky. He’s very fortunate that the ball doesn’t bounce Havertz’s way, and he’s able to snaffle.
Careful Kinsky! Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
16 min: Bergvall takes a heavy touch and attempts to make up for it, lunging into a 60-40 that’s in Partey’s favour. The over-eager young man slides hysterically into Partey, and like the other week against Liverpool, should go into the book, but gets away with a ticking-off. Full marks for determination and effort, but – and with a caveat that the data set is admittedly small – Bergvall’s a red card waiting to happen.
15 min: A bit of space for Sterling down the right. He reaches the byline and cuts back to … nobody in particular. Shame, because Arsenal had red shirts arriving elsewhere. “Sterling was dismissed by one reader after the Utd match as ‘simply not a very intelligent footballer’, but I don’t see how a player can thrive under Pep as he did if that’s true,” writes Paul Curievici. “I can’t be alone in believing he has one last renaissance in him? And surely he deserves it, he was a thrilling player in his prime(s).”
13 min: Odegaard wedges in from the right. Rice takes a delightful touch to cushion the ball down and into the road of Trossard, whose shot is blocked. A sense that an opening goal for the hosts is merely a matter of time.
11 min: Rice curls towards the near post. Kinsky punches away confidently.
10 min: Odegaard launches it to the far stick, where Gabriel’s presence wins another corner on the left. Rice comes across to take.
9 min: Odegaard swings the free kick towards the near post. Kinsky punches, the ball pinging off the nearest player and out for another corner from the right. Odegaard to swing this one in properly.
8 min: Odegaard plays it short to Trossard, whose cross is blocked out for a throw. Then Bergvall skittles Timber out on the right touchline, and here comes yet another of those famous set-pieces.
7 min: Arsenal are well on top during these early exchanges. Odegaard dances down the inside-right channel and feeds Sterling on the overlap. Sterling crosses. Gray reads the danger and turns the ball out for a corner. This one to come in from the right.
5 min: … hoicks it straight out of play on the other side for a goal kick.
4 min: More space for Lewis-Skelly, out on the left this time. His attempted cross pings off Dragusin and out for the first corner of the evening. Rice strolls over to take it, and …
3 min: Lewis-Skelly drives in from the left and slips a gorgeous pass down the middle for Sterling, who is in acres on the edge of the box. Kinsky comes out to his feet. Sterling doesn’t know whether to attempt to round the keeper or dink him, and does neither. A huge chance spurned.
2 min: Rice swings it in. Bergvall doesn’t connect properly with a clearing header, but the ball drops kindly to Kulusevski, who is able to complete the job.
Spurs kick off. They’re immediately on the front foot, accompanied by pantomime boos. But Arsenal snaffle the ball and Sterling wins a free kick out on the right touchline, bundled over by Spence. An early chance for one of those set-pieces!
The teams are out! Arsenal in red with white sleeves, Spurs in second-choice blue. Everyone looking real dandy. The atmosphere is ratcheted up to derby settings, and we’ll be off in a couple of minutes. “Glanced at the 2010 MBM to find a gratuitous reference to Roy Hodgson,” begins Richard Hirst, who is onto me and no mistake. “Perhaps you could remind your readers (he said pompously) what he achieved in 2010? Never to be forgotten in SW6.”
The Arsenal players take to the pitch wearing match shirts in support of teammate Gabriel Jesus who has suffered an ACL injury. Photograph: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC/Getty Images
Pre-match postbag. “Sterling – well, of course Arteta didn’t have much to choose from, though he might’ve tried calling down a member of the public, if only for the first half hour. We’ve been here before – Pepe comes to mind, and dear old Raheem, much as he deserves sympathy for a tough few years, is seemingly intent on replicating some of that dancing about and giving the ball away routine that was such a hit amongst the fans. Freddie Ljungberg is still out there somewhere, perhaps Mikel could give him a call?” – Charles Antaki
“It was awfully nice of Sol Campbell (and Google) to give the away fans so much ammunition. I mean, as a neutral, he’s rarely come across as a likeable fella, but there were some genuinely good lines in that advert. I’m sure his name will be taken entertainingly in vain through the evening. Excellent work” – Sol Campbell Matt Dony
“Mingus! That is one of my all-time favourite jazz albums. It’s brilliant!” – Joe Pearson
Mikel Arteta talks to TNT Sports. “We all love these games … a beautiful occasion … this is the moment of the season you have an opportunity to take advantage … earning the right to be better than Spurs and beat them … take things as they come and make the most out of it … the attitude and the way we played against Newcastle and Manchester United, let’s keep doing that and we will win a lot of games … [Raheem Sterling] looks really sharp … he is very motivated … he has a great opportunity today … the players are very excited … it is a gift to be in a position to make a lot of our supporters very happy so we will do our best to do it.”
You can get sevens on Tottenham Hotspur to win tonight. That doesn’t seem particularly generous seeing they’ve only won one of their last 31 Premier League visits to Arsenal, that victory coming all the way back in late 2010. To be fair to Spurs, their 3-2 triumph that day was one for the ages: relive it here in the old-style MBM format. [Contains references to Charles Mingus and Lester Young. Any old excuse… ]
Ange Postecoglou talks to TNT Sports. “It’s a special game … we should all embrace that part of it … it’s not just another game … [Antonin Kinsky] has handled things really well so far … some big games, some tricky games … it’ll be a great test for him but I’m sure he’ll cope well … apart from [Archie Gray] helping us through this period, the growth we’ve seen in him and the benefit we’ll get from that once we get some players back will be enormous … we’re super pleased to get [Richarlison] back … him and Mikey Moore give us a few more options in the front third … Richy can’t wait to get out there and will see some action tonight … hopefully we can give the fans a night to remember.”
It’s derby day, so chances are the Emirates will be a cauldron of bedlam tonight. That’ll be just as well from Arsenal’s perspective, argues Jonathan Liew. “For all the focus on Arteta’s attention to detail, the fixation on things such as set pieces and defensive spacing, at root he is a vibes coach.” Click below for more.
It’s pretty noisy outside the Emirates ahead of kick off as the Arsenal fans give their vocal chords an airing and bet their flare game going. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
Arsenal make four changes to the XI that started the FA Cup defeat to Manchester United. Raheem Sterling, Leandro Trossard, Declan Rice and Thomas Partey are in from the off; Gabriel Martinelli, Mikel Merino and Jorginho drop to the bench, while Gabriel Jesus prepares for surgery on his ACL.
Tottenham Hotspur make five changes to the side that began the win at Tamworth. Lucas Bergvall, Dejan Kulusevski, Dominic Solanke, Son Heung-min and Djed Spence step up; James Maddison, Sergio Reguilón, Brennan Johnson and Mikey Moore drop to the bench, while Timo Werner misses out altogether.
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly, Odegaard, Partey, Rice, Sterling, Havertz, Trossard.
Subs: Neto, Tierney, Martinelli, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Merino, Butler-Oyedeji, Kabia.
Tottenham Hotspur: Kinsky, Porro, Dragusin, Gray, Spence, Bissouma, Sarr, Bergvall, Kulusevski, Solanke, Son.
Subs: Austin, Reguilon, Richarlison, Maddison, Johnson, Lankshear, Moore, Olusesi, Hardy.
Referee: Simon Hooper
VAR: Peter Bankes
Neither of these teams covered themselves in glory in the third round of the Cup. Both could do with a big bounce-back result in the Premier League, with the title race, robustness of peg for Ange’s coat, local pride, etc., all in mind. Kick-off at the Emirates is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
