Football: Generous Spurs hand Gunners Christmas
gift
LONDON - Arsenal's bid to reclaim the Premier League title passed a
major milestone on Saturday when a derby win over Tottenham ensured
Arsene Wenger's men will spend Christmas on top of the table.
On a day that saw Liverpool register an impressive4-1 win over
Portsmouth at Anfield, Arsenal beat Spurs 2-1 to pull four points
clear of second-placed Manchester United.
Manchester United can cut Arsenal's lead back to a single point on
Sunday, when the champions entertain Everton at Old Trafford.
For Tottenham, who have not beaten their neighbours since November
1999, it was another deeply frustrating derby experience, with even
Wenger admitting his side had been fortunate to claim maximum
points.
Robbie Keane had the chance to put the visitors in front with a
73rd-minute penalty after Dimitar Berbatov had cancelled out
Emanuel Adebayor's well-taken opener for Arsenal.
But the Spurs captain's spot-kick was superbly saved by Manuel
Almunia and Arsenal extracted maximum advantage from that reprieve
when, three minutes later, substitute Nicklas Bendtner was allowed
to rise unchallenged to head in the winner from a Cesc Fabregas
corner.
"We had some luck," Wenger confessed. "Almunia saved the penalty
and that was the turning point."
