It is four years ago to the day, since Tottenham Hotspur made it two North London derbies wins out of the two at the ‘new’ ground, when they overcame Arsenal with a 2-0 victory to spend another week at the top of the 20/21 Premier League table.
2-0 victory over Arsenal at home, on this day back in 2020
Jose Mourinho was in charge for that game, and opted for the following XI; Lloris; Aurier, Alderweireld, Dier, Reguilon; Sissoko, Højbjerg, Lo Celso; Bergwijn, Kane, Son.
We had only played 13 minutes when Spurs took the lead. After turning over the ball, Kane found Son in space off the left hand side, with plenty of space to run into. With the immobile Rob Holding closest to him, the number seven decided to carry the ball inside, before unleashing a trademark curling effort into the top corner. That said, even for him, this was quite a special goal.
That goal seemed to be what would separate the sides going into the half time interval, but a quick break lead to Lo Celso carrying the ball forward and finding Son, who waited before picking a pass to Kane at just the right time, who thundered a left footed strike onto the underside of the crossbar, before bouncing over the line and giving Mourinho’s side a two goal lead heading into the break.
In truth, the second half could have sent a glass eye to sleep, and you can’t be sure that it would have gone down well had fans been allowed into the grounds (other than the 2k socially distanced spectators that were allowed entry), but when you’re 2-0 up at half time in a North London derby, a boring second half is not such a bad thing – not at all.
We saw Davies, Lucas, and Rodon come on after the break – replacing Lo Celso, Son, and Bergwijn. Hart, Winks, Bale, and Vinicius were unused substitutes during the game. As it stands, Davies, the skipper, and Reguilon (amazingly) are the only players from the match day squad that game that are still contracted to the club.
In fact, two of the players on the bench have retired. Vinicius plays for Fulham, though has not been included in a squad of any note since returning from his loan at Galatasaray, where he will have played with Aurier – whom is now a free agent.
What a day.