First North London derby of the season sees an Arsenal win

The first North London derby of the season saw an impressive Arsenal side beat Tottenham 4-1 after extra time at White Hart Lane. Arsene Wengar watched from the stands following the FA's charge for his reaction to the draw at Sunderland. Henri Lansbury's early goal gave the Gunners an early lead before 2 extra time penalties from Nasri and an Arshavin strike ensured Arsenal's progression to the fourth round of the Carling Cup. Wengar fielded a team that we did not expect making 8 changes with 4 first team players starting the game.

Arsenal had a shout for a penalty on 10 minutes when Assou-Ekotto seemed to have pushed Lansbury in the box but the referee waved play on.
The Gunners were seeing plenty of the ball and made it count on 14 minutes when Henri Lansbury put Arsenal ahead after Wilshire delivered a low cross from the left to Lansbury who tapped the ball home from close range.

Spurs got their first chance of the game 6 minutes later when former Arsenal player David Bentley skipped through the challenge of Djourou, he got the opportunity to shoot but blazed his effort high and wide. Spurs got another chance when Pavlyuchenko was in on goal but his shot hit the side netting.

Arsenal continued to dominate possession in the first half but got no decent chances to double their advantage. The score at half time was 1-0 to Arsenal.

4 minutes into the second half Tottenham grabbed their equaliser. Naughton slid a through ball into the path of Keane who slotted the ball past Fabianski. Keane appeared to be marginally offside as the ball was played through to him.

The second half was now matching up to be a close contest and Vela had a great opportunity to make it 2-1 after Rosicky lofted a ball into the box but he put his header over the bar.

Spurs also had a great chance to win the game when they were awarded a free kick after Lansbury brought down Sandro. The free kick found the foot of Keane and from a yard out Keane hit the post.

The score at the end of 90 minutes was 1-1.

30 seconds into extra time Arsenal got a penalty after Bassong brought down Nasri off the ball. Nasri stepped up to take the penalty and comfortably slotted the ball past Pletikosa in the Spurs goal.
3 minutes later Arsenal were awarded with another penalty, Caulker the culprit this time after bringing down Chamakh. Nasri stepped up to take the penalty again and slotted the ball the other side of Pletikosa this time to make the score 3-1.

A few minutes later Tottenham must have thought they had a way back into the game but Naughton's cross was headed against the post from 6 yards out by Bentley.

Then just before the end of the first half of extra time Arshavin made it 4-1 after a quickly taken free kick from Lansbury found Arshavin who fired it past the despairing Spurs goalkeeper.

Arsenal had got revenge for the 2-1 defeat last season which effectively knocked them out of the title race.
The final score ended: Tottenham 1-4 Arsenal

The teams lineups:

Tottenham: Pletikosa, Naughton, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto, Caulker, Sandro(96), Livermore(46), Palacios, Bentley, Pavlyuchenko, Giovani(46).
Subs: Cudicini, Hutton, Huddlestone, Jenas, Kranjcar(96), Lennon(46), Keane(46).

Arsenal: Fabianski, Eboue, Koscielny, Djourou, Gibbs(102), Denilson, Wilshere, Nasri, Rosicky(72), Lansbury, Vela(72).
Subs: Almunia, Sagna, Clichy(102), Arshavin(72), Eastmond, Chamakh(72), Emmanuel-Thomas.

My man of the match: Jack Wilshere

Referee: Lee Probert
Attendance: 35,883