Arsenal set the tone for vast swathes of the match by starting the brighter of the two sides, their dominance and class in midfield telling early on with sharp and incisive periods of possession. Fabregas and Hleb hovered around the edges of the Tottenham 18 yard box, probing for weaknesses in the Spurs back line. One such attack produced the first chance of the game, with Adebayor's shot being smartly palmed over the bar by Paul Robinson.
Against the run of play, however, Spurs took the lead as suspect goalkeeping from Almunia allowed Gareth Bale, starting again on the left side of midfield, to curl a trade mark free-kcik beyond the Spaniard's despairing lunge. The Spurs fans erupted and dared to dream.
Tottenham held the lead for fifty one minutes, a period full of vibrant attacking football from both sides, with Robinson called into action on several occasions as he saved smartly from Hleb and Adebayor. The England man could only look on and hope when Abou Diaby hit the bar when it seems harder to miss.
Tottenham were riding their luck but were not without chances of their own. Finishing the second half the stronger of the two teams, Martin Jol's men began the second in the same vane. Robbie Keane set Dimitar Berbatov free just moments after Arsenal had a penalty appeal turned down by referee Mark Clattenburg when Robinson jumped at the feet of Adebayor, appearing to get the man before the ball. The Bulgarian rounded Alumnia and just as seemed to only need to stroke the ball past the lunge of Kolo Toure, only for the Ivorian to punish his profligacy and clear. It would prove to be a big turning point.
Arsenal's equaliser had a air of inevitability about it. Having leaked goals from set pieces and crosses this season, the sight of Adebayor leaping in front of Paul Robinson to head home was painfully familiar. In one foul swoop England's number one undid all his good work over the previous sixty minutes. The home crowd fell silent and worse was to come.
Seconds after chesting a Berbatov volley off his own goal line, Arsenal embarked on one of their trademark counter-attacks, the ball eventually falling to Cesc Fabregas. Looking up the Barcelona born midfielder picked his spot and fired past Robinson from 35 yards. White Hart Lane was now deafly silent, save for the mocking Arsenal celebrations and Martin Jol nervously fiddling with his collar.
If Spurs fans were feeling a sense of humiliation, it was only going to be compounded. Darren Bent sprinted clear of the Arsenal defence and with an equaliser seemingly inevitable, he scuffed wide. Then to rub salt into Tottenham wounds, Adebayor scored Arsenal's third, and the games best, with a sumptuous volley to set the seal on an impressive Arsenal performance and leaving Martin Jol to reflect on what will probably prove to be his last North London Derby.
It's difficult to establish any personal blame on the part of the players, even if the initial reaction to such a gutting result is to throw pointless, reactionary wads of blame in the direction of anyone stupid enough to be caught playing in a Tottenham shirt on a Saturday afternoon. What this game should serve to prove, once and for all, is just how far we are behind Arsenal, and as I mentioned earlier in the article, just how far we have regressed since the 2005/2006 season. Even when we were 1-0 up, Arsenal had a worryingly but depressingly familiar amount of the ball. Technically, physically and probably athletically, Arsenal's players have proved themselves time and time again, to be superior to our own. The point should be, in fact, that we should forget comparing ourselves to them and concentrate on our genuine rivals (in terms of potential league position), namely Blackburn, Everton and quite possibly several other sides.
I wont pass any judgment on whether the events of the past month made this result an inevitability because it just plainly isn't true. Granted it would not have helped but players should need little motivation to give their all in such an important derby match. And who is to say they didn't? on the day Arsenal were simply much better than us. Whether you can blame Jol for that is subject of some debate but what is for sure is that you cannot completely detach him from blame. He had said before the game that a win would allow us to rebuild our season. Quite how he will attempt, if given the chance, to rebuild from this loss is quite beyond me.