The mid-week northern London derby had our DFB bloggers dissecting the clash that all but knocked Arsenal out of the premiership race and enhanced Tottenham’s shot at a top four finish. They – two Gunners supporters and a Spurs man – fired up following Tottenham’s 2-1 victory. It was a long time coming for Spurs fans as Tottenham recorded its first league win over their arch rivals since November 1999 – a run of 20 games.

Gooner 1: Yes, yes, congrats to the Spurs. Who the hell was that guy wearing Gomes’ shirt for them today, by the way?  That was ridiculous. Last 20 minutes certainly made you wonder where Arsenal might be with a healthy Van Persie all season. He was playing incredibly well this year before the injury.  Didn’t look like he even missed a beat.

Arsenal’s offside trap give Spurs that easy second goal 90 seconds after the break. Clearly no communication at all between Silvestre and Sagna. Silvestre played him offside, but I don’t know what Sagna was doing or looking at.  Then it seemed Silvestre could not be bothered to make it any more difficult for Bale.  BTW – was that the strangest position from which a left back has ever scored a goal?  Why was he there?  How was he there?  The whole thing was unfathomable.

Broadway Danny Rose’s goal was one of the most incredible shots I’ve seen.  I actually think there was a vapor trail behind it. It rivaled something from Roberto Carlos’ left foot.

Van Persie certainly changed the game upon coming in. Gomes’ two saves against him and the one on Campbell’s header were unbelievable. Gomes is a strange bird.  Actually, he’s a lot like Almunia – they make some incredible saves, and then make fantastic mistakes.

Gooner 2: Credit to Spurs, they defended well. But come on, Almunia should have made a much better punch and stopped, or at least gotten a hand, to the Rose strike. Silvestre is indeed a clown, but Campbell was outstanding. Our best player, besides Van Persie. A few years ago Ramos said Gomes was one of the best keepers in the world and everyone laughed. He’s coming good. Indeed world class. I actually hope Spurs get fourth. They’re a better side than City.

Spur 1: Gomes has played well for the last 18 months at Spurs to be fair to him. After a very dodgy Dracula phase when he was scared of all crosses, he’s been brilliant since Tony Parks came in as goalkeeping coach. A great shot stopper, which he showed last night.

More worryingly for you Gooners is that Gomes had absolutely nothing to do until about the 83rd minute. Without Fabregas and VP, you’ve got nothing to hurt teams with. Teams aren’t as scared of a midfield with Eboue, Rosicky or Nasri like they were with the likes of Petit, Vieira, Pires, Flamini, Ljungberg – who would all get you goals and assists every game.

The only reason Arsenal have been relatively in the title hunt is because Man Utd and Chelsea have dropped more points this season than usual, it’s not that Arsenal have had a title-winning season themselves.

I also don’t understand why whingeing Wenger doesn’t play Walcott up front either with, or instead of, Bendtner. He played there for Southampton and if he beats the centre back with his pace, he’s through on goal. On the wing, when he beats his full back he still has the centre halves to face. Everyone knows he can’t cross (look at the comments from the Braca players last week), but he can certainly finish. Wenger did that with Henry, and I think he should do the same with Walcott. He would certainly be more of a threat than Bendtner.

As for Spurs, can’t see us finishing fourth as we still have Chelsea, Man Utd and Man City to play in the last five games, which is a very tough run-in. Still, been a great season though and Ledders should be going to the World Cup!

Gooner 2: I agree about Walcott.  And you’re completely right about why we were in the title race to begin with, because Man U and Chelsea weren’t as good. Man U will spend in the summer, Arsene will buy some no-namers, including a no-name goalkeeper, and it’ll be the same old story.

Gooner 1: Arsenal is definitely not very threatening when rolling out that collection they did against Spurs. Bendtner gives them a big target, and that’s about all. Walcott was on my last nerve earlier this season, but has played better of late.  I just don’t know what his role is.  He’s so small, I don’t think he can be your primary target.  He’s an average crosser of the ball, at best, and a poor finisher.  His speed is fantastic, but it often seems that’s all he has and he’s running around like the proverbial headless chicken.

I’m not sure what the answer is – you hit the nail on the head about Arsenal being in the title race more due to what Chelsea and United are not doing much moreso than what Arsenal is doing.  It’s easy to say, “Well, they’ve narrowed the gap this season,” but you don’t have to dig very far to see that the standings are misleading.  If you look at the four matches Arsenal played against those two teams this season, it’s hard to say any gap has been narrowed.  I think in the first match against United early in the season, Arsenal may have actually been the better side, but a couple of bad breaks and a poor call were enough to beat them.  The other three matches against those two were train wrecks.  The two against Chelsea looked like father-son games or something.

To Arsenal’s credit, they did better this season in the games they ‘should’ win.  But if that’s the best thing you can say about a team, well, that’s not a whole lot.  Will Wenger finally spend money, and build a better, deeper team?  My issue last summer was not so much with him not buying stars – I’m fine with that, but with the lack of DEPTH.  When Djourou went down for the season before it even started, how can he justify not getting another defender, or two?  Gallas and Vermaelen, who at that time was an unknown quantity.  Then you have Silvestre backing them up – he may be the worst player in the league.  He is terrible.  He literally gives you nothing.  The clever one-two he played with Messi for Barcelona’s first goal last week was beautiful – probably his moment of the season.  Then he pulls Campbell off the scrapheap in January, and thank goodness for him – he’s done a decent job for the most part.  But with Gallas looking like he’s out for the year, and Vermaelen a question mark…again, what’s the option?  Only other guy you can put back there is Song (if he can play – seriously, the injuries are ridiculous), who does a great job, but now you’ve taken him away from midfield, and weakened that area as well.

A club like Arsenal know that they’re in four competitions every season.  You know how many matches you’re going to have to play.  You also know that your squad is full of guys who get hurt a lot, which is a whole other issue.  You’ve got to have more depth than what they do, and not 16-17 year olds, either.

On the topic of injuries – is calf-stretching a part of their pre-game routine, by chance?  For all intent and purpose, Gallas has missed the past two months or more because of it, and we’re likely to not see him again.  Arshavin is in the middle of a probably 3-week absence, and now Vermaelen with the same injury.  What in the world is going on with these guys and their calves?  I don’t have any statistics handy, and maybe I’m too close to the situation, but Arsenal has got to be top of the league, or close to it, in injuries.

Venting done, for now.