For Arsenal, the biggest danger is that Tottenham work out their one true weakness: that they're weak. Arsene Wenger will never let us know beforehand, but he must be dreading this, because there is every chance it could be another humiliation. More crisis, more boos, more questions, largely pertaining to where all the money's gone. Well, that's the thing, isn't it. Unless there's more to this than meets the eye, the money's not gone anywhere, it's just sitting snugly in the coffers, picking up interest or whatever it is that money does when it's not being spent. Time was when Wenger could afford to lose the likes of Nicolas Anelka or Marc Overmars, because they'd be replaced by Thierry Henry or Robert Pires – superstars in the very near future. Has Wenger lost that magic touch? Or is that in 2012, Nicolas Anelka is being spotted by other clubs as well? Maybe it's that Henry and Pires walked into a squad containing Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira and Tony Adams. Now 1999 Henry would join up with Johan Djourou. Now Cesc Fabregas is replaced by Mikel Arteta and Samir Nasri is replaced by Gervinho.

In a league with Chelsea and Manchester City, that's never going to be enough to win a title and it's worth noting that the majority of Wenger's successes were pre-Abramovich, while The Invincibles were pre-Mourinho, and look what he did to them the year after. In that regard, Arsenal are to be applauded for staying in the top four for so long, while all the oil money sloshes around them. In a way, Wenger is right to say that a top-four finish is a trophy, because that's what football has come to; it's now a sport where Tony Pulis leaves out nine first-team players when Stoke go to Valencia, just so they can make sure they finish 10th, not 11th. But while a trophy is lovely and everything, an FA Cup followed by finishing sixth cannot be regarded as a successful season. You get pride, memories and history for winning a trophy; you get money by qualifying for the Champions League – strange thing being that they're never going to win that. Bring back the Uefa Cup – we'll not count the egregious disgrace that is the Europa League - that's what we're saying.

If Arsenal are well beaten today, their fans might have to suck it up and simply admit that Tottenham are the better side. Indeed only Robin van Persie would get into the Spurs team at the moment. What they might find less forgivable is that Spurs are the better side. But that's the consequence of sustained spending. Eventually it tells, and now we find ourselves in the rather unsettling situation of Spurs going to Arsenal as favourites (despite what the bookies say) for the first time in the Wenger era, and almost certainly in the Premier League era. It will be interesting to see how they cope with that tag, or whether they freeze. [Alanshearer]After all, you never know what might happen in a derby (sometimes you do)[/Alanshearer] (sometimes you do) and [JamieRedknapp] form goes out of the window [/JamieRedknapp] (not always). Spurs are yet to register a big away win this season, and the Lilywhites were lily-livered at City and Liverpool, only playing when they were 2-0 down at the City of Manchester Stadium. So let's not put all the pressure on Arsenal: should Spurs lose this one, let's ask questions of them. They probably won't though.

Arsenal: Szczesny; Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs; Song, Arteta, Rosicky; Walcott, Van Persie, Benayoun. Subs: Park, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Fabianski, Jenkinson, Gervinho, Chamakh, Miquel.



Tottenham: Friedel; Walker, Kaboul, King, Assou-Ekotto; Kranjcar, Modric, Parker, Bale; Adebayor, Saha. Subs: Cudicini, Dawson, Rose, Lennon, Sandro, van der Vaart, Defoe.

Referee: Mike Dean

Three things. Chew these over.

1. Is there anything more desperate than football journalists on there mentioning footballers' Twitter handles when they're chucking starry-eyed praise in their general direction. For example, noted Arsenal fan Lord Smug always mentions Robin van Persie. Piers, he's not basing his decision to stay at Arsenal on how much you tweet at him from America. Then you've got others - let's not name names, let's call them the Sunday Supplement gang - writing stuff like "@rioferdy5 should definitely be the England captain". Come on lads, he's still not going to invite you round for dinner! I know it's Twitter, but let's at least try to retain a semblance of dignity.

2. Last night, I went to a club called Embargo on Kings Road. First mistake: going to Embargo on Kings Road. Three bottles of Peroni cost £17.

3. That's seventeen pounds for three bottles of beer.

Pre-match emails.

"As a spurs fan, I just cannot agree with your assessment Jacob," says Paul Durdin. "Spurs have been dire on the road since beating Norwich in December. The team selection looks poor, with the elegant yet energyless and paceless Kranjcar in for Lennon, and 2 up top away to Arsenal looks crazy. Hate to say it, but I see a comfortable Arsenal win." That's a run of games at Liverpool, Swansea and City though. I agree that the omission of Lennon is strange though. Kieran Gibbs must be relieved.

"Arsenal's money is being spent," says Luke Kelly. "Their wage bill is about 4th or 5th in the league. It's just that Wenger prefers to play the percentages by buying and paying the wages of several young players, who could turn into a big name, instead of one already established name. For a Goetze or a Silva, he can afford a Denilson, Diaby, Coquelin and Frimpong. When he has spent a lot recently, it hasn't worked - Reyes, Arshavin - or Torres for Chelsea. There is, though, increasing competition for these youngsters too."

Them teams are out of the tunnel. Does Brad Friedel look at Scott Parker's hair and reminisce of his childhood? "Afternoon Jacob!" says Ryan Dunne. "Hope a hapless hammer like yourself does't take offence at neutrals, like me, regarding this as *easily* the most compelling Big London Derby. Was planning to MBM this myself, for the competion thing, and was wondering if you had any Pro-Tips? Must say the whole Open Doors thing sounds impressive, yet risky. Are you guys not worried that someone will steal Polly Toynbee's stapler or the like?" We're all turning up like this.

Peep! Tottenham get us going, attacking the North Ba ... hang on, what's that stand called again? Mikel Arteta boots Scott Parker in the chest after a mere 20 seconds. Is he ever not in the wars?

2 min: This is a very early observation, but Bale is already drifting inside, as he did against Stevenage last week. I'm not sure how effective that tactic is, especially with Lennon out. "You cheapskate, that's their happy hour price," says Carey Smith. "PS I have ten pounds on a perm of any three of Sagna, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Song or Arteta being booked fouling Gareth Bale today. Easy money."

3 min: Modric sets Walker streaming away down the right. The right-back bursts forward and then slides a pass inside to Krancjar, whose heavy touch allows Vermaelen to make an important challenge on the edge of the area. Moments later, there's the first glimpse of Emmanuel Adebayor, who's roundly booed by the home fans.

GOAL! Arsenal 0-1 Tottenham (Saha, 4 min): The front two of Adebayor and Saha link up beautifully, as they did in the thumping of Newcastle. But where were the Arsenal defenders? The ball was knocked down the left for Adebayor, who looked like he had nowhere to go. However he turned neatly away from Koscielny, who promptly fell over. With a huge gap in the middle of the Arsenal defence, Adebayor rolled a pass through to Saha, who cut back on to his left foot and then saw his shot from 18 yards loop up off Vermaelen and agonisingly over Szczesny.

5 min: On the touchline, Arsene Wenger turns to Pat Rice and says "Dawn, I'm fed up."

6 min: The Arsenal defending for the Spurs goal was a shambling farce. Spurs were able to break at will, with barely an Arsenal defender near any of them. It was just so easy. No one tracks runners, no one seems capable of doing the basics.

9 min: Gibbs goes over in the area after Walker hung a leg out. Mike Dean waves away the appeals. That looked tight. The danger came after Walcott broke clear on the left side of the area, but his cross into the six-yard box was blocked by King. Moments later, Van Persie got in behind in a similar area but his cross-shot was deflected behind for a corner. That's better from Arsenal.

10 min: Arteta whips the corner in from the left, but Vermaelen's flick-on only takes it away from goal. "I understand why bottled beer costs more than draft beer (transport, storage, all that mularky) but I don't understand why people are prepared to pay the difference," says Gary Naylor. "It all tastes the same doesn't it? Still, bottled beer is more heavily marketed I suppose, and there's no market more willing to gobble up marketing than the beer market."

11 min: Arsenal appeal for another penalty, this time for a handball by Parker after a shot from Rosicky. That hit him on the chest. Nothing doing. Arsenal keep the pressure up though, and Vermaelen slams one well wide from miles out.

13 min: Arsenal look like they can cause problems going forward, but they also look like conceding every time Spurs go forward. Bale winces after Sagna caught him late on the left. Modric curls the free-kick into the six-yard box, and with the sun in his eyes, Szczesny gets nowhere near it. Luckily for the goalkeeper, the ball is headed away from goal by a combination of Spurs and Arsenal players.

14 min: With Arsenal disputing a free-kick given against them on the edge of the area, Spurs take it quickly, Bale in behind on the right again. Vermaelen desperately hacks his low centre away with Adebayor waiting.

15 min: Arsenal couldn't have asked for this chance to fall to anyone else. But somehow Robin van Persie has missed a glaring chance to equalise. Sagna's cross from the right came to him around six yards from goal. His first shot was blocked, but that only served to set up another opportunity, this time with a much clearer sight of goal. Incredible he snatches at the ball on the volley with his right foot, dragging it just wide of the left post. This is a terrific game, neither side paying the slightest attention to defending properly.

18 min: A lull. A beautiful lull. "That Spurs bench is frightening - all but Cudicini and Rose would walk into that Arsenal team," says Niall Sheerin.

19 min: But not for long. Bale roars down the left and fires a brilliant cross over to the far post, but Krancjar, under pressure from Gibbs, heads on to the roof of the net. "Who is better Jacob, Kieran Gibbs or Armand Traore?" asks Chris Sturrock. Gael Clichy.

20 min: Despite Tottenham's lead, Arsenal are mostly having the better of this and are seeing much more of the ball. The problem is that Spurs seem to have 20 players on the pitch when they break.

21 min: Arsenal nearly score from a long throw. Yes, really. But not in the conventional Stoke style. Rory Delap Bacary Sagna just chucks the ball to Van Persie, who lets it run across his body, completely fooling Parker. Having got the yard of space, he shoots with his left foot from the edge of the area, and a deflection off Kaboul takes it inches past the right post.

22 min: Tomas Rosicky nearly scores from a corner. Yes, really. Arteta sends the corner to the near post, where Rosicky flicks a fine header goalwards, only for the remarkable Friedel to show incredible reflexes, arching back to palm it over the bar. What a save. Tottenham are getting hemmed in a little here.

24 min: But Spurs are just terrifying on the counter-attack, which is down in no small part to Arsenal not actually leaving anyone in defence. Surely Wenger has to do something about this. This time Saha returns the compliment to Adebayor, playing his partner through the middle. He just about overpowers Gibbs, and forces a sprawling save from Szczesny. The ball comes out to Walker 20 yards from goal, and the man who got the winner at White Hart Lane in October rams a vicious effort this far wide, the ball brushing the side-netting on its way behind. How is this only 1-0?

27 min: Happily for Arsenal, the fans are still with them. They know effort and a good performance when they see one. But still the goal won't come.

28 min: Still. Sagna crosses from the right and Walker puts it out for a corner with notorious aerial threat Yossi Benayoun causing him some bother. "Do you have any idea who won the coin toss?" says JR in Illinois. "I know Spurs kicked off so I'm thinking they won it. If they did, then wouldn't Arsenal get to choose which direction to attack? What I'm wondering here is who is responsible for orientating Arsenal such that the sun is directly in Szczesny's eyes." I have to say that I don't.

29 min: Scott Parker picks up his regulation booking for a studs-up challenge on Van Persie on the edge of the area. He ruffles his 1950s hair in frustration. Modric is also booked for kicking the ball away. The result of all this is that Arsenal have a very good chance to score from this free-kick.

31 min: Arteta rolls it to Van Persie, who stops it dead for the Spaniard. By the time he's ready to shoot, Parker is already on top of him and blocks the shot. What was the point of that? Koscielny is then booked for tumbling into Krancjar, though he was knocked off balance by Adebayor.

32 min: PENALTY TO TOTTENHAM! Modric slips Bale through the middle. He has a couple of yards to make up on Gibbs, but it's a race he wins with embarrassing ease and once he gets there, he knocks it past Szczesny and goes down. It didn't look like there was much contact. A bit of a dive from Bale.

GOAL! Arsenal 0-2 Tottenham (Adebayor pen, 34 min): After a lengthy discussion between Mike Dean and his linesman about whether Szczesny or Gibbs should have been booked, neither are and Adebayor of all people steps up to take the penalty. And doesn't he take it well. Szczesny goes the right way, but Adebayor gives him no chance, stroking the ball firmly into the right corner. He resists the temptation to stroll around the Emirates flicking Vs at the home fans.

35 min: I'm not convinced that Bale was touched. That's perhaps reflected by Szczesny not even being booked, especially as Mike Dean had to have felt he denied a goalscoring opportunity. It doesn't matter much though, given that Spurs are two goals to the good.

36 min: Theo Walcott isn't going to make it. He runs on to a loose ball in the middle of the pitch, and heads it past King, before speeding away from the Tottenham captain. No one's catching him, he just has to keep on charging towards the Tottenham goal and shoot. Instead he passes it to the left to Van Persie, who's being marked by four Tottenham defenders. Of course, he loses it. That was dreadful.

37 min: Up the other end, another former Southampton man messes up a great chance to put Tottenham 3-0 up. Once again Arsenal's defence was nowhere to be seen as Bale raced down the left, but instead of playing it to Adebayor, who was in a far better position to his right, Bale shot from the edge of the area, and Szczesny saved it easily enough.

GOAL! Arsenal 1-2 Tottenham (Sagna, 40 min): Arsenal deserve this, and it's a great goal from the unlikeliest of sources. They ought to have scored moments before when Walcott found Van Persie in the area, and his low shot crashed back off the foot of the left post. Spurs never got settled from there though, and when Benayoun crossed it back in from the left, Sagna hurtled in from the flank to plant a bullet header past Friedel. That was unstoppable. Game on. And what a game it is.

WHAT A GOAL! Arsenal 2-2 Tottenham (Van Persie, 43 min): My word. This is a fabulous goal. With the Tottenham defence now in a right old state, Assou-Ekotto's dismal clearing header lands at the feet of Van Persie on the edge of the area. He manages to shift the ball on to his left foot and then curl an incredible effort past Friedel and into the left corner. Where's this Arsenal team been all season?

44 min: Arsenal want a third. Spurs are rocking. To be honest, their defence has hardly been any better than Arsenal's. By the way, I missed Arteta being booked a few minutes ago.

45 min: There will be three minutes of stoppage time. Can we have some more please?

45 min+2: The expression on the faces of the Spurs fans are a picture right now. "This just sets up the heartbreak all the more," says Stephen Alexander. "No one actually expects Arsenal to win do they?"

45 min+3: Bale is now being booed whenever he gets the ball after his dive to win the penalty. Those jeers turn to cheers after his cross from the right evades Adebayor.

Peep! Peep! There's the half time whistle. That wasn't bad, was it?

Half time: Arsenal 2-2 Tottenham.

Half time emails.

"Clearly Harry is a genius at getting the best out of wayward and "has been" players (Saha and Adebayor)," says Simon Reece. "What chance a recall for Stan Bowles for the Euros?"

"That dive will have took some value from Bale's transfer fee - he'll only be worth £150 million now," says John Reid.

"Sickening!" says Jarno Timmermans. "Why do we accept this kind of behaviour? Twenty years ago players like Lothar Mattheus were ridiculed for such behaviour. Now it's just part of the game: grown men letting them self fall as if touched (as if hurt!)... sGot nothing to do with sport or sportmenship. Bann it from the fields. For a starter: Bale 3 games out. And I don't even support The Arse!"

"Being welsh, (good weekend so far!) I'm obviously a big fan of Bale and his sometimes-spectacular-but-sometimes-surprisingly-ordinary approach to the game, BUT, I hate cheating, diving scum," says Matt Dony. "I'm so torn!"

"Is Bale one of those swarthy cheating foreign types like what we don't want none of round here?" says Ben Stanley. "Or doesn't Wales count?"

"Getting 2 goals back after the horrendous dive of Bale, and with 10 men on the pitch is bringing back my will to live - and yes I know we haven´t had anyone sent off but I will be cold in the ground before I count Walcott as a player," says Andreas Salkvist.

Here's a debate for you. "Penalties are silly, aren't they?" says Paul Szabo. "How often is a 'clear goalscoring opportunity' actually converted in open play? A lot less often than the resulting penalties are made. Another example of football's crap feature of the punishment not fitting the crime (red cards meaning one man down, not just the one man out). So there."

There's something in this. Should a penalty be awarded when, for example, someone's going away from goal or taking the ball out of the area, and every defender is in the box? I wrote about the last-man rule here two years ago. Have a read and see what you think.

More on the penalty. "Am I the only one who can clearly see Gibbs clip Bale?" says Russell Courts. Here's the crux of the matter: Bale definitely wasn't touched by Szczesny, but he might have been by Gibbs - only, it was impossible to tell. Bale certainly played for it, and in real time, I suspect that Mike Dean wasn't entirely sure what happened and assumed he'd been fouled, which is why he didn't send off Szczesny.

Half time substitutions: In a bid to stiffen up his side, Louis Saha and the irrelevant Niko Krancjar are replaced by Sandro and Rafael van der Vaart. That's a direct response to the way Arsenal have cut through Spurs.

46 min: Off we go again. Arsenal are on the attack straight away, but after some good work by Gibbs on the left, his cross is wasteful.

47 min: Arsenal are a transformed team. Mikel Arteta finds Benayoun free in the box with a lovely pass. The Israeli opens up his body tries to softly guide the ball into the far corner with his right foot, only for Friedel to deny him, tipping the ball past the post. "It must be said that Bale was being hammered by Gibbs from the side," says Nathan McClellan. "He could have gone down from that and no one would be questioning the histrionics of the second 'foul'."

48 min: "Perhaps Arsenal's comeback was encouraged by the knowledge that there was no chance that Arshavin could come on and mess things up," honks Mark Judd. What on earth happened to the player who terrorised Holland at Euro 2008 and scored four goals at Anfield?

49 min: There's a stoppage in play after an injury to Walker, who seems to have turned his ankle. "Penalties are brilliant," says Niall Mullen. "Unless you're a conspiracy theorist, the rules apply to everyone equally and they provide what is often much needed drama to what is after all a form of entertainment.. Spurs might have to use their third and final substitution."

GOAL! Arsenal 3-2 Tottenham (Rosicky, 51 min): It's not often you get to talk about incredible spirit from Arsenal; they're usually the ones throwing leads away. With Spurs struggling, Rosicky breaks through the middle. Wasn't that what Sandro was brought on to stop? Rosicky lays it off to Sagna on the right and his cross is deflected back into the path of Rosicky, who'd continued his run to the near post, got there ahead of Friedel and instinctively flicked the ball past the Spurs goalkeeper. Maybe, for once, Wenger will be justified to praise Arsenal's mental strength.

53 min: Tottenham look to hit back straight away. Van der Vaart's corner reaches Kaboul in the middle of the area, but his first touch is poor and Vermaelen gets it away. It's fair to say that Arsenal are probably going to need a fourth. "Harry's put to death any fears that he might continue Capello's "defensive solidity first" policy if he gets the England job," says Gene Salorio.

56 min: Van Persie slashes well off-target from a tight angle after the ball broke back to him in the box off a Spurs defender. Tottenham have completely lost the ability to defend. They've been appalling since going 2-0 up.

57 min: Right now, all that's going to happen is Arsenal scoring again. Spurs have gone for the afternoon. The increasingly influential Rosicky knocks a pass down the right-hand channel for Walcott, who flashes a drive just past the far post from 15 yards out.

59 min: Gareth Bale also produced a risible dive at Anfield recently. He wants to be careful. That's the kind of thing that gets a player an unwanted reputation.

60 min: Arsenal are so pumped up now. Walcott tracks back to tackle Assou-Ekotto, stopping Spurs from starting an attack. Now I've seen it all.

61 min: Sandro's booked for a late challenge on Benayoun.

62 min: Luka Modric can count himself lucky. Already on a booking, he trips Arteta, but avoids a second yellow card. It would have been soft though.

63 min: Arteta's free-kick is deflected wide by the Spurs wall. The corner comes to nothing. "Jacob, you should know better," says James Galloway. "Gareth Bale is British, so the chances of him getting a reputation for diving are as slim as, say, Gerrard or Rooney getting one. Cracking game though!"

GOAL! Arsenal 4-2 Tottenham (Walcott, 65 min): Theo Walcott does something right! Yes, I know! This time it was Spurs who caught short at the back, as Rosicky's lofted pass found Van Persie in space on the left. He had plenty to do though, but did exceptionally well to hold off King and Walker, before waiting for support to arrive. Once it did in the shape of Walcott down the right, Van Persie found him with a typically assured pass. Clear on goal, Walcott's second touch clattered off his left shin, but such is the way things are going for Arsenal, that served to set him up to dink a magnificent finish over Friedel and into the net.

GOAL! Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham (Walcott, 68 min): 8-2, anyone? Has there ever been more of a confidence player than Theo Walcott? On the right flank, Song lobs a pass over the top of the shambles now masquerading as the Spurs defence. Walcott takes a touch and hammers a cracking low finish across Friedel and into the bottom-left corner. Redknapp for England.

70 min: Tottenham have been abject.

71 min: Tottenham once came back from 4-2 down to draw 4-4 here. Surely this is beyond them now though.

72 min: An Arsenal fan on Twitter is suggesting that I shouldn't be doing this minute-by-minute because of my name. Well done football! Well done Twitter! Well done society!

73 min: We've got our Tottenham back.

75 min: Gareth Bale fires well over from the edge of the area. Arsenal respond by bringing on Carl Jenkinson for Kieran Gibbs. "I have to admit Jacob, I started reading your MBM, but closed it after the 4th minute, I couldn't bear to see the bloodbath," says Pessimism's Herman Hooker. "I finally checked back and I can see me closing my browser tab has helped Arsenal. There's only one Harry Redknapp?"

76 min: When did Arsenal sign this Tomas Rosicky character? He plays a one-two with Benayoun in the area and then guides a low shot just past the left post from 18 yards out. "Wenger for England?" parps Scott Stricker. "Anyone? Anyone?"

78 min: A year ago, Arsenal were getting ready for some slapstick comedy against Birmingham City in the Carling Cup final.

79 min: Grant Holt has made it Norwich 1-1 Manchester United with six minutes left. Back at the Emirates, Robin van Persie will presumably sit out Arsenal's next league game after picking up his fifth booking of the season. "I can admit that in the second half, Walcott has been less useless than usual," says Andreas Salkvist.

82 min: Theo Walcott won't get a hat-trick, but he will get a standing ovation. He's got his critics - me, mainly - but that was a terrific performance in the second half. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is on. Michael Dawson replaces Ledley King for Spurs.

83 min: The challenge now for Arsenal is to use this game as a spur for the rest of season. There have been too many false dawns, and there remains a danger that they've upped their level simply because they're playing Tottenham. If they played like this every week, they'd challenge for the title.

85 min: "2-0, and you effed it up," is the chant from the Arsenal fans. It's a role reversal of this fixture last season. This will be the first time Arsenal have beaten Tottenham since October 2009.

86 min: On his 900th appearance Ryan Giggs has made it Norwich 1-2 Manchester United in the 90th minute. Paul Scholes got the first goal.

87 min: SCOTT PARKER IS SENT OFF! He steams into Thomas Vermaelen, arrives too late and takes him out. Mike Dean shows him a second yellow card and he'll miss the game against Manchester United next week. That was a tackle borne out of frustration at Tottenham's capitulation.

88 min: Gervinho comes on for Benayoun. "If Arsene knows anything afer this match, it's the fact Arsenal needs to score five goals in order to win big matches this season," says Admir Pajiae. "Anyway, both Arsenal and Tottenham show today again that English top teams play awful defence this season and it's no wonder none of them will play in the last eight of Champions' League. It's good thing for spectators who enjoy in matches with results like 8-2, 5-3, 6-1...but not for international hopes of England and English teams in Champions' League."

90 min: Just before Arsenal's first goal, Tottenham should have gone 3-0 up. It didn't look like a pivotal moment at the time.

90 min: There will be three minutes of stoppage time. "Poor wee Theo," says Ianto Brychan. "After all the brickbats about his lack of a footballing brain he kills his England career by playing well and scoring. As a Welshman who has a degree of affection for the Gunners may I suggest that Harry manages England on a part-time basis and continues as the Lane?"

90 min+2: Arsenal fans, you won't need telling, are loving this. "Adebayor, what's the score?" is the latest taunt.

90 min+3: It's impossible not to feel pleased for Arsene Wenger. He's had an awful six months. This more than makes up for it.

Full time: Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham. Don't adjust your screen, you're reading that correctly. In this most miserable of seasons for Arsenal, they have handed their biggest rivals a staggering humiliation. Not many people would have seen this coming after Tottenham went 2-0 up in the first half, but Arsenal have not played with such resilience, spirit and skill for a very long time. They certainly haven't played better all season and nothing sums that up better than match-winning performances from two of their most maligned players, Theo Walcott and Tomas Rosicky. All of Arsenal's current problems began on this day last year, when they lost the Carling Cup final to Birmingham. They'll be feeling a bit more pleased with themselves this year. As for Tottenham, once they went 2-0 up, they were awful. They've got Manchester United next week. Thanks for reading and emailing. Bye.