LONDON (UK) – Oliver Giroud didn’t get the memo about Tottenham Hotspur’s supposed takeover of North London.
Tottenham, who spent a reported £145.2 million pounds($225.2 million US) on seven new players going into their North London derby annual grudge match against Arsenal, were talking up how they were ready to finally overtake their most bitter rivals Saturday.
Thanks to Giroud’s left-footed flick at the 23th minute, Arsenal maintained it’s long-time mastery over their tough-luck foils from White Hart Lane, 1-0 to vault to fourth on the English Premier League table.
With newly arrived imports such as Roberto Soldado(Valencia CF, £26.4 million), Paulinho(Corinthians, £17.3 million), Nacer Chadli(FC Twente, £7.1 million), Etienne Capoue (FC Toulouse, £9.6 million), Vlad Chiriches (Steaua Bukarest, £8.3 million), Christian Eriksen (AFC Ajax Amsterdam, £11.8 million) and freshly-minted debutante in Erik Lamela from AS Roma for £26.4 million, surely Spurs were finally ready to overtake Arsenal, who had yet to spend a penny of their massive £100.0 million ($155.1 million US) transfer kitty right?
Thanks to Giroud’s goal, Arsenal gracefully reminded the free-spending and upstart outfit from White Hart Lane who is still the boss in North London.
While the 2013-14 campaign is barely in it’s minnow phase and both teams are still in flux with Tottenham adding seven new players and selling it’s best player in Welshman Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for a world-record transfer fee of $132 million, Tottenham still have enough time to gel and make a run for a Champions League slot.
In terms of Arsenal, their 1-0 win should help silence the many Gooners who were calling for him to spend the transfer kitty allocated to manager Arsene Wenger. Taking three points from the upstart Spurs may offer a form of temporary solace, make no mistake, Arsenal needs to make a move for before the transfer window closes on Monday if they hope to seriously contend for the EPL crown.
One of the popular conspiracy theories making the rounds in Gooner fan forums was that Tottenham was holding up the move of Bale to the Bernabeu, to undermine and prevent Arsenal from making a move in the transfer window. Clearly the amateurish stalling tactic of Tottenham failed—on and off of the pitch, as Arsenal are finally set to make a last-minute swoop on some top-quality players.
If the multiple media reports—which are unconfirmed as of press time—are indeed true, Arsenal may have finally dipped into the kitty and are in talks of securing the services of Real Madrid striker, Mesut Ozil for a reported £40 million fee. Considering the many other failed and futile so-called links to players such as Gonzalo Higuain, Luis Suarez, Luis Gustavo and Wayne Rooney that were linked to the Emirates, forgive any Arsenal supporter for waiting with abated breath.
#COYG #COYS #Arsenal #THFC #SpursFC
Robert D. Cobb is the Founder/CEO/Senior Editor-In-Chief Of The Inscriber : Digital Magazine, for questions, comments and concerns email me at robcobb@theinscriber.com follow me on Twitter @RC_TheInscriber and follow The Inscriber : Digital Magazine on Twitter at @TheInscriber
well written mate. and I love your first line about not getting the memo
Stephen,
Thanks for reading, And yes, I channeled my inner “Office Space” on that one. #COYG!