20 October 2012 – Tottenham vs Chelsea

Tottenham-2/4-Chelsea @ White Hart Lane

47′-Gallas, 54′-Defoe//17′-Cahill, 66′- Mata, 69′- Mata, 91′ Sturridge

Chelsea used to absolutely dominate Tottenham back in the day, with something along the lines of 30+ games in succession going from Chelsea. However ever since 2005 Chelsea has had a hard time at White Hart Lane, as the Spurs have not loss to the Blues in the last 6 games there. This game is a little different, however, since Tottenham have looked strong with their new addition to their team and Chelsea are still unbeaten in the EPL before the game. So which one of the two trends would give way?

Game of the Week. EASY. A strong showing from both teams lately made this game an interesting one. However, one thing to note is that Gareth Bale was not in the starting line as reports say that his wife went into labor roughly an hour before the start of the game. Start of with some great play from Chelsea. Torres seemed to be working his magic up front as the three behind him (Mata, Oscar, Hazard) worked well to support. Obi Mikel controlled the game well and worked the team up at a good pace. 17′ minutes in Chelsea’s corner gets deflected out to Gary Cahill, who volleys a smasher right through Friedel. Not much else to report of the half other than a couple opportunities from Chelsea and something or two out of Tottenham. Mainly, Chelsea maintained control of the half and did not let the home team gain any momentum whatsoever. Going to the second half, a early set piece from Tottenham took a confused Chelsea to the tie. However, it didn’t end there as a pressing home team took the momentum of the goal to work a second one from Defoe, who was assisted by Aaron Lennon. A rapid succession of goals plus the home field advantage game Tottenham a commanding lead in the momentum, as Chelsea couldn’t come out of the back in an orderly fashion. After a long spell of pressure from Spurs was ended by a chance from Chelsea, followed by a goal from Juan Mata off a mistake from Gallas. It did not end there as absolutely amazing movement from Juan Mata tied to an amazing pass from Eden Hazard connected for the third goal for Chelsea. After that, the game seemed to go all in Chelsea’s favor as the spell of Tottenham’s momentum came to a screeching halt. More pressure from Chelsea ended up with an extra goal from the substitute Daniel Sturridge, courtesy of the trip from  Kyle Walker near the 18 yard box and an assist from Juan Mata. That would basically conclude the match, as the White Hart Lane would suffer its first Blues lose since 2005.
Man of the Match- Obviously Juan Mata. Admittedly a quiet man in the first half, but came to life after the Tottenham momentum surge in the first 20 minutes of the second half. After which Juan Mata dictated the pace of the whole game and scored a double of his own, raising his streak to six goals in five games. Second goal, however, blew my mind, as the vision of Juan Mata to make that run so much earlier than it was seen by defenders is truly the reason why he is one of the best in the EPL at the moment. This man is having no thoughts about a sophomore slump.

 

Robin van Persie “NOT” to extend his contract past 2013

Robin van Persie does not want to be in the Emirates Stadium past 2013, which begs for a few major questions.

1. Why doesn’t he want to stay at Arsenal?

2. Where will he go?

3. Does Arsenal think that with their recent signings of Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud that RVP will not be needed anymore?

4. Will he get traded this summer?

Let’s tackle this one by one shall we?

Even after having a phenomenal season, I believe that he realizes that this squad will probably not win anything major. He is probably thinking along the lines of, “Well, if I scored 37 goals this year and we still can’t win a trophy, then what’s the point?” Now, his contract does end in 2013, meaning that if he doesn’t get traded this summer, he can try his luck with the added power of Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud, Arsenal’s two major signings of this summer. If nothing special or promising happens after that, then his leave will be much more understandable. Another reason that he may want to leave is just to have a change of pace. After a crushing defeat at the Euro 2012 and not getting anywhere near a trophy in club games, maybe it is just time to move on and try it somewhere else. I honestly don’t know where he will go. The major teams in the BPL are set on strikers, arguably except Tottenham, so I do feel like he will be going out of country if he does leave. You could see him at PSG with the major signings they have been doing over there, but I expect him more at Tottenham, Liverpool, or even Bayern. Arsenal has said that they want to keep RVP, but the crossroads came across when deciding on the future of the team. That could mean a billion things, but I do feel like if Arsenal really wanted to keep him they would try harder. Either that, or they are really banking on doing well with year and they aren’t going to trade him. Whether he actually gets traded this summer or the next is up to what Arsenal thinks they can do with or without him. If they can feel like they can get the same or better results without him then it is time to part, and obviously vice versa for the other way around. Personally, I do not think he will be traded, but we shall see as we have about a month and a half left of trade time!