Football
Memorable moments: Rosicky’s goal steered Tottenham from 0:2 to 5:2
The derby between Arsenal and Tottenham is always the focus of huge attention. But between 2011 and 2015, their confrontations had a specific focus, as the white jersey with a rooster on the chest was worn by Emmanuel Adebayor, who was hated by Gunners fans.
The derby between Arsenal and Tottenham is always the focus of huge attention. But between 2011 and 2015, their confrontations had a specific focus, as the white jersey with a rooster on the chest was worn by Emmanuel Adebayor, who was hated by Gunners fans. He also scored a goal in the Gunners’ net in January 2012, but the hero was someone else – Tomas Rosicky.
The February London derby was an early battle for second place. Arsenal were ten points behind their rivals in fourth place, Tottenham were third behind the unbeaten Manchester United.
The Gunners did not go into the game in an ideal frame of mind. Out of the previous ten league rounds, they had won four, drawn twice and lost four times. Especially defeats at Fulham and Swansea and draws against Bolton and Wolves hurt a lot.
Spurs, on the other hand, have been on a roll. In the past eleven rounds, only Manchester City managed to beat them and the group around Gareth Bale or Luka Modric conceded only seven goals. So the form has been on the away side.
And Tottenham’s good frame of mind was evident. In the third minute, Louis Saha made a run on the edge of the box and sent the visitors into the lead with the help of a run. Former and hated cannonballer Emmanuel Adebayor found the assist.
And Adebayor reigned on. Half an hour after the opening goal, Gareth Bale was fouled in the whitewash. The former Gunners playmaker took the ball and shot to the right post to make it 2-0. But the Gunners didn’t mess around and equalised before half-time.
In the 40th minute, right back Bacary Sagna cleared Mikel Arteta’s centre with a header towards the left post, and three minutes later Robin van Persie scored with an accurate shot. The Dutch hit the bar moments before, but just before half-time he gave Brad Frieder no chance from just outside the box.
Just after the change of sides, the Gunners completed the turnaround. In the 51st minute, Tomas Rosicky exchanged the ball with Sagna, the French back found him with a pass into the box and the Czech midfielder scored his first league goal of the season with an easy run.
Arsenal brilliantly took advantage of their opponent’s composure and gave them two more slaps to decide the match by the 70th minute. Theo Walcott cleared the ball into the net in the 65th and 68th minutes, with only Scott Parker getting sent off in frustration for Spurs in the 87th minute.
The Gunners got a kick out of winning the derby and lost just two rounds before the end of the season. Tottenham, on the other hand, fell four times and Arsenal eventually managed to leapfrog them in the table to finish third. Spurs also qualified for the Champions League, but only shot up to fourth place in the last round with a 2-0 win over Fulham.
Manchester City dominated the league table by a score, but the clear king among the scorers was 30-goal van Persie. The second best Wayne Rooney scored 27 goals, Tottenham’s Adebayor finished fourth with 17 shots.
Rosicky added just one more hit in the season, in the Champions League group stage against AC Milan (3: 0). He finished the year with a 2+4 record, and was particularly successful at the end, assisting three times in the last five rounds of the Premier League.
Source:: YouTube
