Arsenal tonight find themselves on the brink of finishing below North London rivals Tottenham for the first time in 16 years as well as missing out on qualification for the Champions League for the first time under Arsene Wenger.
The Gunners went down to a 2-1 defeat at White Hart Lane on Sunday afternoon after two terrible pieces of defending in the last 8 minutes of the first half cost them a share of the spoils in a game that was otherwise a fairly evenly fought contest.
Spurs were 11 matches unbeaten going into this highly anticipated fixture, whilst Arsenal, despite struggling in the cup competitions, were on a good run themselves in the Premier League having emerged from February with 3 wins from 3 matches.
Indeed it was the away side who appeared to settle better and enjoyed the majority of the possession in the early stages. Arsene Wenger had picked an attack minded side and last weekend's two goal hero Santi Cazorla was instantly involved when he set Olivier Giroud free only for the Frenchman's shot to be blocked by Jan Vertonghen. It was to be the first of many fine pieces of defending from the eventual man of the match.
Andre Villas-Boas' side were finding it difficult to get into gear against Arsenal's technical and tenacious midfield, but there was a distinct lack of a cutting edge in the final third thanks to a wasteful Giroud and a practically invisible Theo Walcott. Much of Arsenal's good play was coming from right back Carl Jenkinson, who sent in a number of wonderful crosses that one would imagine a top striker would have thrived upon.
Eventually the home side began to come into the game, but the opening goal was still more of Arsenal's making after some typically incompetent defending. Thomas Vermaelen's positional sense deserted him as he looked to push up without the rest of his back four, allowing Gareth Bale to dart in behind Per Mertesacker and cooly stab past Wojciech Szczesny on 37 minutes.
The second goal came immediately after and was almost a carbon copy; Vermaelen was again caught napping but this time it was Nacho Monreal's turn to inexplicably step up and allow Aaron Lennon to hurtle through and round Szczesny before tapping in to an empty net to make it 2-0.
It was a dreadful end to a half that had promised much for Arsenal, but Spurs' pace and clinical finishing was too much for Wenger's men to handle.
What gave optimistic Gooners cause for hope was the fact that their bitter rivals have made a habit of taking the lead in these fixtures and not capitalising, and there was a distinct sense of deja vu when Mertesacker flicked on a Walcott freekick to see it take a glance of Bale and nestle in the far corner past a helpless Hugo Lloris just 6 minutes into the second half.
It was all hands to the pump for Arsenal but Spurs were standing strong and counter attacking purposefully; Bale missed a sitter at the backpost before substitute Jermain Defoe shot agonisingly wide with Szczesny beaten. At the other end Jenkinson's crosses were causing more problems but Giroud wasn't aware enough to take advantage of a spill from Lloris.
Gylfi Sigurdsson was put clean through soon after but looked to square for Bale rather than score himself, but his pass only found the outstretched leg of Mertesacker. An Arsenal midfielder was next to be put through as Aaron Ramsey latched on to a delightful pass from Tomas Rosicky but the Welshman dragged his shot wide.
The last effort of note came from Walcott who bent a freekick just wide of the post from 22 yards out.
Tottenham managed to hold on relatively comfortably thanks to more stalwart defending from Vertonghen and skipper Michael Dawson, with the only concern coming when Moussa Dembele was taken off on a stretcher; the Belgian leaving the field in the same manner as Emmanuel Adebayor who had also been injured earlier in the half.
The result leaves Spurs in 3rd place and just 2 points behind Manchester City, whilst holding a 2 point lead over Chelsea and a 7 point lead over Arsenal. The Gunners themselves remain in 5th place, staring down the barrel of Thursday nights on ITV4 next season.
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