After an uneventful first 40 minutes, Tottenham had to be pretty confident that it would go into the half tied with Arsenal.
Instead, the Gunners exploded in the next five minutes, killing any of Tottenham’s dreams of earning even a draw against their North London rival club.
After allowing two goals in less than a minute, Tottenham could only go home wondering what went wrong so quickly and why they can’t come close to beating a top-tier team after a crushing 3-0 defeat at Emirates stadium.
Between Robin Van Persie’s two goals, Cesc Fabregas went on an incredible one-man run through four Tottenham defenders before calmly finishing past Tottenham’s Brazilian goalkeeper, Heurelho Gomes.
It was a superb strike by the 22-year-old Arsenal captain, and a goal that pretty much deflated Totenham’s hopes for earning any points through the match.
Tottenham did play without their star player, Jermaine Defoe, since the hard to guard striker earned a red card in last week’s home match against Portsmouth and therefore received a one-game suspension.
In other Premiere League matches, Liverpool continued their amazingly inconsistent play by losing to Fulham, 3-1.
Manchester United bounced back from their loss last week to Liverpool by defeating Blackburn 2-0, while Chelsea put on an inspiring display on the road against Bolton, winning 4-0.
In Italy, Inter Milan beat Livorno 2-0, and their win, combined with Napoli’s shocking 3-2 victory over Juventus, puts the Milan side seven points clear atop the table.
In La Liga, Barcelona’s Gerard Pique gave up an own goal in the final minutes of the match to give Osasuna a dramatic 1-1 draw with the European champions. Second-place Real Madrid finally put in a decent appearance by winning with just 10 men over Getafe, 2-0.
The top teams around Europe will play their Champions League fixtures midweek, and then on Sunday most of the soccer world will turn its eyes to Stamford Bridge Stadium where Chelsea hosts Manchester United in a battle for first place.
