20^th November 2010.

Just before kick off a large banner was unveiled from the ‘prawn sandwich’ section above the Spurs supporters. It was all blue with two big arrows pointing downwards. In large white letters it read; “50 YEARS OF FAILURE”. Someone please remind me again? What is it that goes before a fall?

I would guess that most of the 3,000 Spurs supporters in the small corner of the Emirates had travelled to the game in hope rather than expectation. The Lilywhites had failed to win on Arsenal soil since 1993 and that win was against an Arsenal reserve side that were five days away from an FA Cup final with Sheffield Wednesday. I was there that Monday evening, sitting in amongst the Gooners in the West Stand upper at Highbury. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that it would not be 17 years before I would sample a win on the old enemies soil again. It might well have been worth the wait.

Spurs started in predictable fashion. Playing an attacking line up with Lennon restored to the side Spurs were far too open through the middle, which coincidently is exactly where Arsenal play 90% of their football. With the match less than ten minutes old the Spurs back four were carved open with a simple ball of the top from Fabregas. Nasri cut in from the right hand side but it looked for all the World like a simple collection for Gomes. Sadly this was not the case. Should he stay, or should he go? As Gomes dithered Nasri reached the ball first. Even now Gomes should have been stronger but the ball cannoned off the Brazilian back onto Nasri and then towards the touchline. With Benny providing cover Nasri gets to the ball and cuts it into the net from a tight angle thanks to the natural spin of the ball. 0-1 down.

Things nearly got a whole lot worse when Fabregas bamboozled the Spurs defence to work some space on the right hand side of the box but the Barcelona bound player could only drag his shot wide of Gomes post. Still, it wasn’t long before Arsenal would double their lead.

With the ball on the right hand side of the Spurs half Alan Hutton was fouled with a knee into his ribs. Phil Dowd, the referee, put his whistle to his mouth and his hand to his pocket to book the offender but as the ball had broken to Lennon he opted to play on whilst Hutton stayed down. Within seconds the Spurs attack had fizzled out and now Arsenal were on the counter. Hutton was gingerly getting to his feet when a ball was played out to his side to the waiting Arshavin. A slide rule cross was then played into to the six yard area where Chamakh had got in front of Kaboul. A simple touch from Chamakh and the score was 0-2. Spurs were all over the place.

As the half time whistle sounded the general consensus was that we were fairly lucky only to be two goals adrift. Something had to change or Spurs would be on the wrong end of a hammering. And something did change.

Lennon was withdrawn for the start of the second half and Defoe was brought on. This move paid dividends within minutes of the restart.

A hopeful ball from Benny, some 10 yards from his own corner flag was won superbly by Defoe ten yards inside the Arsenal half. His header found Van der Vaart who controlled it superbly before laying the ball off into the path of Bale. The Welshman’s first touch was sublime and his second was to slide the ball wide of Fabianski and into the far corner of the net.

Spurs were now getting to grips with the game, and as they did against Inter Milan in Italy, losing their fear of the opposition. Luka Modric had a superb drive just go over the bar in an excellent spell for Spurs.

With just under 25 minutes remaining Modric received the ball on the left halfway inside Arsenal’s halfway. A jinking run ensued which ended with the Spurs man sandwiched between two Arsenal defenders and a free kick was awarded 25 yards from goal. Van der Vaart took the kick which inexplicably was handled by Fabregas in the Arsenal wall. Penalty! Van der Vaart himself stepped up to take it, his first penalty since missing against FC Twente in the Champions League. Thankfully there would be no heartache this time as the Dutchman sends Fabianski the wrong way to make the score 2-2.

The chances were now coming thick and fast at both ends. Fabregas forced a fine save out of Gomes with a curling shot and then Koscielny misses an open goal with a header at the far post whilst unmarked with Gomes scrambling to get back into position. Up the other end a half chance for Van der Vaart falls away after Crouch heads back across goal but the ball would not come down for the Spurs man and the danger was cleared.

With time running out for both teams the final sting in the tail came with just under five minutes of normal time remaining. Bale on the right this time is scythed down and a free kick is awarded 30 yards out from goal and 10 yards in from the right touchline. Van der Vaart plays in a fierce in swinging ball and Kaboul gets in front of two defending Arsenal players to get a touch and send the ball into the back of the Arsenal net. As you can imagine, the travelling Spurs contingent were slightly chuffed with this turn of events.

The final few minutes, plus five minutes of ‘injury time’ dragged by before Referee Dowd finally put us out of our nail chewed misery and blew the final whistle. The carnal scenes that followed were akin to something from the Roman Empire as grown men kissed and hugged each other in complete abandon. Shirts were dispatched by the players into the crowd and supporters danced on seats singing “We’re not going home” which they didn’t for a good twenty five minutes after the final whistle.

It had been a miraculous turnaround. Was it down to Redknapp’s genius at half time? Wenger’s inability to make changes before the shit hit the fan, The Spurs players finally growing some balls, or the Arsenal players being castrated of theirs? Who knows. I suspect it was probably a little bit of all of those things. But the most important thing is we won. And that is all that matters.

It’s been a long time coming but I think it was worth the wait.

I love you all and there is nothing you can do about it.