Published: 22 January, 2015

ARSENAL by Richard Osley

THESE are the days when you are two-nil up and you are still only able to convince yourself the team is going to win when there are about 20 seconds or so left of injury time.

Or at least at that point, with the clock draining, you can tell yourself that at the very least they won’t lose. And a draw is okay, isn’t it?, when you are away at the champions. These are the days when only when it is no longer physically possible to score two goals are you happy that the promise of a magical thing is going to be reality. It’s that moment when the time-maths finally say there just aren’t enough milliseconds to score, get the ball to the centre spot, and score again.

And yet all this rather obsessive time-checking on Sunday afternoon, in those final stages of Arsenal’s tremendous ­victory at Manchester City, was a complete waste of nervous energy and just a simple by-product of past pain.

Arsenal weren’t just clinging on, gasping for the final whistle at Money City. They bossed it. Solid in midfield, dangerous on the break and authoritative at the back. City had 16 corners, which would normally be the equivalent scoring chance of a penalty (maybe two) against Arsenal’s flapping defence this season. Not on Sunday. Everything was repelled, everything was perfect. Here was an Arsenal clearly high on team spirit and determination, and mixing it with the skill we always knew they had. It was perhaps the finest “Wenger In” of the season, and the truth is, Spurs will have to scrabble around winning a lot of meaningless League Cups to match afternoons like that. Superb, Arsenal, superb. 

SPURS by Catherine Etoe

GRAN got into bother from Jamie Carragher this week. 

“Stop posting self-congratulatory selfies on social media when all you’ve done is win at bingo,” the professional moaner screeched at her on Monday night. “Come back to me when you’ve won the lottery.” 

Poor old Gran. You can’t blame her for acting like a self-obsessed buffoon on Twitter – she was only copying those Arsenal players who had gurned and goofed around in celebration of their own piece of good luck on Sunday. 

“If they can take half-naked selfies in the dressing room just because they’ve beaten Manchester City away from home,” she muttered, “why can’t I whip off my thermal vest in the foyer and do the same when I’ve had a full house and won 15 quid?” 

Oh all right, Carra didn’t really give Gran an earful, but he did get his undies in a twist over Arsenal’s self-congratulatory photos and he was right; no one should take a show-off dressing room pic when all they’ve done is win a football match in Manchester. Far better, we think, for players to keep their crowing on the pitch, although now that Tottenham keep scoring for fun that may mean spending some extra time practising goal celebrations on the training ground. So, Jan Vertonghen, stop goofing around with the funky chicken and get to work on a proper Super-Jan shirt rip. Vlad Chiriches – you’re a flexible fella, how about renting a video of Robbie Keane in his pomp and practising those forward rolls? And Christian Eriksen – aeroplanes are… actually me old mucker, you can do what you like so long as you keep on doing what comes naturally… and scoring.