Spurs v Arsenal
Wednesday's North London derby ~ Spurs v Arsenal
'Vote for change' - that's the Conservative slogan for the forthcoming General Election and Tottenham fans may well be considering a tick next to the blue party on May 6th. The last time Spurs beat their North London rivals a young chap called Tony Blair was still in his honeymoon period as PM just two and a half years into his eventual decade of power. Under this Labour government the results in favour of the red half of this tussle read P24 W14 D9 L1.
The front page of today's Racing Post headlines tonight's game between Tottenham and Arsenal as a 'Demolition Derby'! Each side has the chance to wreck the others season with a win at White Hart Lane. Based on the stats above Arsenal are the rightful favourites at 5/4. That price moved in from 11/8 after Tottenham laboured through extra-time on an energy sapping Wembley surface with no reward on Sunday. Arsene Wenger's squad will have had a whole weeks rest after their footballing lesson in Barcelona last week. The home side have drifted from 2/1 out to 11/5 to win the match that will keep their hopes of fourth place alive. A draw is available at 23/10 and frankly that's no good for either team.
On the back page of the Racing Post chief football writer Mark Langdon describes the clubs as 'worlds apart' - and he is a Tottenham fan. In all fairness, despite their poor record in this fixture, Tottenham have very rarely under-performed to the extent they did at the Emirates earlier in the season. The 3-0 win for Arsenal without breaking sweat was a source of extreme frustration for the Tottenham fans who thought their players did not put in the required effort. Harry Redknapp will have spent the best part of the five months since that game drumming into his side the effort required to stop goals like Cesc Fabregas' waltz through the midfield. The Arsenal captain is missing tonight, but we could see the return of one of Arsenal's few remaining 'A-listers'. Robin van Persie may make a dramatic comeback from injury and he features at 5/1 to score the first goal. It's 8/1 that RvP is the MvP on the 'Man of the Match' market (settled on the official Sky Sports result). I can think of at least three occasions in the past ten years when Tottenham deserved more out of this fixture - especially an equally important affair at Highbury in April 2006 when Aaron Lennon gave makeshift left-back Mathieu Flamini a torrid time before Thierry Henry grabbed an undeserved leveller for the home team. That result was pivotal in the Champions League race that season, something which the Gunners are assured of this year regardless of defeat tonight.
Tottenham have been kind to Blue Square punters in recent weeks as they have triggered two of our '0-0 cashback' offers. It's 15/2 that they make that a hat-trick tonight, although the 'win at all costs' nature of this game may produce plenty of goalmouth action. A 3-3 draw at 50/1 would entertain the neutral viewer but end Arsenal's title dream and Tottenham's European aspirations - a true demolition job!
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