Thank heavens the Arsenal isn't empty yet!

When Louis Saha scored for Tottenham Hotspur in the fourth minute of the North London Derby with a bobbling shot off Thomas Vermaelen, I got that sinking feeling in my chest again and wondered whether this would be one of those days which has been all too common for Arsenal this season, and Emmanuel Adebayor’s penalty doubling the lead for the visitors was my dad’s cue to enter the room and ask me in a scathing but well-meaning tone, “Arsenal’s chapter over, huh?”, at which point I told him that the chapter would only end when Mike Dean blew the whistle for full time. And what a story the chapter told at full time. Arsenal have been subjected to quite a few maulings this season, and the ones that spring immediately to mind are the 8-2 humbling by Manchester United and the recent 4-0 whipping by AC Milan at the San Siro. But on the other hand, Arsenal have also shown plenty of grit, determination and resolve to come back from positions which fans of other clubs don’t quite expect Arsenal to claw back from. The Gunners showed that resolve against Chelsea earlier in the season despite trailing 2-1 at half-time to win 5-3 at the end of the game, they showed it in the FA Cup against Aston Villa at the Emirates when Richard Dunne and Darren Bent had scored in the first half to put the Midlands Club two goals to the good, and they displayed similar grit at the Stadium of Light when Thierry Henry stabbed home in the dying minutes of the game to give Arsenal three very crucial points. [caption id=“attachment_230778” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Wenger celebrates as his team scores its fifth goal against Tottenham Hotspur during their English Premier League match in London. Reuters”] [/caption] They’ve showed it in other games during the season, and they showed it against Spurs as well, scoring two in the first half to draw level and putting their arch rivals to the sword but putting three more past Friedel in the second. One might have raised a few eyebrows at Arsenal’s team-sheet going into the game. Wenger had gone 4-2-3-1 with Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen and Gibbs playing at the back, Song and Arteta playing just in front of them and a midfield trio of Benayoun, Rosicky and Walcott, leaving just van Persie up front. Both Chamberlain and Gervinho were on the bench which was bolstered with more attacking options in the form of Park and Chamakh. Yossi Benayoun had struggled for game time at Chelsea, and had received a significant amount more at Arsenal, but was it enough to warrant a starting berth? Tomasz Rosicky too had flitted in and out of the Gunners starting eleven but Wenger had decided to play the Czech Republic captain in the Cesc Fabregas role. At the end of ninety minutes however, both midfielders silenced their critics with excellent performances. The Israeli was quietly efficient, spraying passes this way and that and linking up very well with his teammates, even threatening Friedel in the second half, while Rosicky was majestic to say the least, time and time again harrying the Spurs defence and justifying exactly why Wenger trusts the Czech to deliver when called upon. His efforts did earn him a goal, as he showed excellent awareness to gallop into the box and convert Sagna’s return pass to give Arsenal the lead. For all the criticism levelled at Theo Walcott this season, his performance on the right flank against Spurs will do his confidence a world of good. The crowd were on his back at the Emirates, and he had a second half performance he will not forget in a long, long time. Harry Redknapp’s substitutions at half-time which saw him bring on Rafael van der Vaart and Sandro to bolster the midfield in place of Louis Saha and Niko Kranjcar played right into Walcott’s hands. Redknapp’s tactical substitutions at half-time justified Wenger’s selection for this game. He was playing to his strengths, flooding central midfield with players so that the Spurs defence would be overwhelmed by the sheer number of creative players, meaning there would be no dearth of incisive passes which would require Ledley King and Co. to stay on the alert throughout the game: not something every defender can do very easily. Kyle Walker and Benoit Assou-Ekotto are both pacey fullbacks who like to bomb forward at every opportunity, but they are more offensively aware than they are defensively solid. With Benayoun and Rosicky pulling the strings in midfield and Arteta and Song getting forward at every presentable opportunity, Spurs were positively entrenched in their own half every time Arsenal got the ball. Walcott showed today twice in the span of three minutes exactly what he is capable of on his day. Van Persie did all the donkey’s work for the first of his brace, holding off two defenders as Walcott roared towards the box and finished with a simple dink over Brad Freidel, with Assou-Ekotto stranded in no-man’s land as he tried to track back as Spurs pushed forward and Scott Parker, who’d been snapping into tackles all game, failing to intercept Walcott’s run with a last-ditch tackle that showed a lack of communication between the visitors’ midfield and defence. Let’s face it, he owned Assou-Ekotto on the flank. You could see how much the goal meant to him. The second goal was great link-up play between him and Alex Song. You wouldn’t expect Song to play such a delicious pass to Walcott but he has shown the ability to pick out players with crucial passes in the past. Once again Walcott was in the right place at the right time to side foot exquisitely past Freidel and send the Emirates Stadium into raptures. Robin van Persie was peerless and is by far the best striker the Premier League has seen this season. Today was just another testament to how valuable he is for the club. He bashed home the equaliser just before the half-time whistle, having two opportunities with his weaker right foot failing to trouble Friedel — just barely, though. His goal to me was reminiscent of Robert Pires’ winner at Anfield during the Invincibles’ run. He was involved in both Sagna’s header and — more crucially — Walcott’s goal, holding off Ledley King and Younes Kaboul, who are by no means slight. More often than not, he has led by example this season. The best moment of the match, for me personally, however, was seeing the expression on my dad’s face when I told him Arsenal had won 5-2. The Gunners go to Anfield next, and if they play the way they did against Spurs, they have a more than a realistic chance of finishing in the top four.