Fixture
Saturday 17 November 2012 | Emirates
Stadium | Referee: Howard Webb | Attendance 60,111
- Per Mertesacker (24)
- Lukas Podolski (42)
- Olivier Giroud (45+1)
- Santi Cazorla (60)
- Theo Walcott (90+1)
| Arsenal |
5 - 2
|
Tottenham |
- Emmanuel Adebayor (10)
- Gareth Bale (71)
Emmanuel Adebayor’s dismissal sparked a spectacular comeback as Arsenal recovered from a goal down to win 5-2 at the Emirates Stadium. The Togo striker scored against his former employers to give Tottenham a 10th-minute lead, but seven minutes later was given a straight red for a sliding tackle on Santi Cazorla.
Tottenham struggled to cope with the numerical disadvantage and it only took a few minutes for Per Mertesacker to equalise. Lukas Podolski’s strike, and Olivier Giroud’s fifth goal in his last five games gave the Gunners a comfortable two-goal cushion by half-time.
Tottenham fared slightly better in the second half, but their only reward came through a Gareth Bale consolation after Cazorla had extended the hosts’ advantage. Theo Walcott grabbed another goal in injury to make the score the same as the 5-2 win last season. Arsenal’s victory means they leapfrog Tottenham in the table, while Spurs have now suffered four successive defeats under Andre Villas-Boas.
William Gallas thought he had given Spurs an early lead against his former team when he intercepted Tom Huddlestone’s effort and curled a shot past Wojciech Szczesny, but the Frenchman was offside. One minute later Spurs had the lead, however, after Szczesny palmed Jermain Defoe’s shot in to Adebayor’s path for a tap-in. Seven minutes later, however, Adebayor was heading for the dressing room after his lunge on Cazorla.
The equaliser arrived midway through the first half when Walcott latched on to Wilshere’s ball and crossed for Mertesacker to head past Hugo Lloris. The France goalkeeper saved twice in succession from Giroud, but he could do nothing about Podolski’s scuffed shot that bobbled past him on 42 minutes.
Arsenal netted their third in first-half injury time, after Howard Webb played advantage following Kyle Naughton’s foul on Cazorla; the Spaniard carried on to square the ball to Giroud, who dispatched a close-range finish.
Villas-Boas brought on Michael Dawson and Clint Dempsey and moved to 3-5-1, but the move made little impact as Arsenal remained in control. Lloris kept the hosts out for 14 minutes before Arsenal hit on the break through Walcott and Podolski, who found Cazorla at the back post and he made no mistake from five yards.
Bale restored a bit of pride for the away side with 20 minutes to go when he outpaced Mertesacker and drove past Szczesny. Defoe attempted a 10-yard volley while unmarked at the back post but he missed the ball, while Thomas Vermaelen shot just wide before Arsenal finished off the rout in injury time as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain took advantage of a Jan Vertonghen mistake to play in Walcott.
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