It was Adebayor’s red that cost Spurs on Saturday (Video)
It’s a given that a North London derby is always a hot headed affair. Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are two teams just four miles apart and with two sets of fans that have the highest expectations of their respective teams.
Saturday was no exception. Both teams headed into the encounter on a poor run of form, Spurs more so, but neither side was confident. Despite missing influential midfielder Mousa Dembele in the middle of the park, it was the visitors that started the brighter.
Former Arsenal front-man Emmanuel Adebayor put Spurs 1-0 up and it could’ve easily been doubled when Aaron Lennon fired just inches wide of Wojciech Szczesny’s far post. However, after 17 minutes, the game was turned on its head.
The away side were dominant up until the point where Adebayor completely lost his head around the halfway line and dangerously lunged in on Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla. Unsurprisingly, a red was brandished.
Afterwards, the Gunners gained a firm stranglehold on the encounter and continued to dominate from that point on. Spurs head coach Andre Villas-Boas, to his credit, moved to three at the back at half-time to attack the hosts, but in the end the one man advantage proved too much for the Lilywhites.
Had Adebayor not been sent off, it could’ve been a different game entirely. Spurs could well have nabbed a second and held on until the interval. Nevertheless, for the second successive time Arsenal put five past their neighbours and it can be argued that it came about from the Togolese front-man’s rash challenge after only 17 minutes.
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