When the League Against Cruel Sports has finished with fox-hunting it might turn its attention to north London football derbies. The thrill of the chase inflicted unnecessary suffering on the spectators' nerves at White Hart Lane yesterday.
Tottenham defeated Arsenal for the first time under George Graham, indeed for the first time in four years, because from the start they set out to deny Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit the sort of platform from which the French pair so often take charge of matches.
Add to this some inspired defending from Sol Campbell and Chris Perry and a crucial double save from Ian Walker, and Spurs' highly industrious performance deserved its reward. Their victory was all the more creditable coming so soon after the disappointment of going out of the UEFA Cup to Kaiserslautern in stoppage time.
Arsenal, however, dominated enough of the second half to make out a prima facie case for a point, although this time there was little sign of the sort of late recovery which a fortnight earlier had enabled them to beat Chelsea 3-2 after going 2-0 down. Their chronic inability to keep a full set of players on the field did not help.
This time Arsene Wenger's side finished with nine men. Early in the second half David Elleray sent off Fredrik Ljungberg for pushing over Justin Edinburgh; then Martin Keown, having been cautioned for fouling David Ginola, followed in stoppage time when he was shown another yellow card for bringing down Jose Dominguez, a substitute.
In the three years of Wenger's management Arsenal have now collected 26 red cards. Yesterday Keown's dismissal brooked no argument, but Wenger queried Elleray's decision to send off Ljungberg to the extent that he was not sure why.
"According to the players the referee said he had head-butted Ginola," said Wenger. "If he did then the referee was 200 per cent right in sending him off. But if it was for pushing Edinburgh he was wrong to kill the game in such a way."
Elleray confirmed that Ljungberg had gone for violent conduct, which according to the laws could be a butt or a shove.
Spurs always suspected that at some time their goal would come under siege, so it helped to be two ahead by the time the match was 20 minutes old.
After only six minutes Oyvind Leonhardsen's chip forward found the last Arsenal defender, Lee Dixon, moving up a fraction late for offside. The ball arrived at the feet of Steffen Iversen who calmly slipped his fourth goal in five games past David Seaman.
Another 14 minutes and White Hart Lane was hugging itself with joy and maybe a little disbelief. After Petit had been cautioned for bringing down Chris Armstrong, Spurs took an unconscionable time taking the free-kick. Elleray ordered them to get on with it, whereupon Clemence tapped the ball to Ginola who then stunned it for Sherwood to send a sharply swerving shot worthy of Roberto Carlos inside the far post.
Tottenham: Walker, Carr, Perry, Campbell, Edinburgh, Leonhardsen (Fox 87), Sherwood, Clemence, Ginola (Dominguez 89), Iversen, Armstrong. Subs not used: Baardsen, Vega, Young. Booked: Edinburgh, Leonhardsen, Clemence, Carr. Goals: Iversen 7, Sherwood 20.
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Keown, Adams, Winterburn, Ljungberg, Petit (Grimandi 77), Vieira, Overmars, Kanu (Suker 72), Bergkamp. Subs not used: Manninger, Vivas, Upson. Sent Off: Ljungberg (53), Keown (90). Booked: Petit, Bergkamp, Keown, Vieira, Dixon, Suker. Goal: Vieira 39.
Referee: D Elleray (Harrow-on-the-Hill).
