Theo Walcott celebrates, with Robin van Persie behind him
February 26, 2012: Tottenham Hotspur are 10 points ahead of Arsenal, their North London neighbors, in the Premier League, as the teams prepare to face each other at Arsenal's home, the Emirates Stadium. "Spurs" fans have spent weeks reminding Arsenal fans -- known as Gooners, in connection with the cannon-badged team being known as the Gunners -- in the words of message on the trains of the London Underground, to "Mind the gap." (In America, it's usually "Please watch the gap.")
Arsenal need to win this "North London Derby." They need a win. Real bad.
They fall behind 2-0, including a goal by Emmanuel Adebayor, the striker from the Ivory Coast who had whined his way out of Arsenal 3 years earlier, and had been picked up by Spurs. This makes him only the 2nd player ever to score for both sides of this rivalry, following Jimmy Robertson in 1970. It looks really bad for Arsenal.
And the rout was on. Bacary Sagna, the braided right back who almost never scored, did so in the 40th minute. Robin van Persie equalized in the 43rd. In the 2nd half, oft-injured midfielder Tomáš Rosický, a.k.a. "the Little Mozart" (Mozart was Austrian, not Czech), gives Arsenal the lead in the 51st. And Theo Walcott scores in the 65th, and again in the 68th, providing the final score of 5-2. Tottenham are shellshocked, and the Emirates parties like never before in, well, its brief 6-year history.
It is a win that, uh, spurs the Gunners on to make a great run-in, and Tottenham never recover. Arsenal end up finishing 3rd, 1 point ahead of Tottenham, but 19 points behind League winners Manchester City.
They fall behind 2-0, including a goal by Emmanuel Adebayor, the striker from the Ivory Coast who had whined his way out of Arsenal 3 years earlier, and had been picked up by Spurs. This makes him only the 2nd player ever to score for both sides of this rivalry, following Jimmy Robertson in 1970. It looks really bad for Arsenal.
And the rout was on. Bacary Sagna, the braided right back who almost never scored, did so in the 40th minute. Robin van Persie equalized in the 43rd. In the 2nd half, oft-injured midfielder Tomáš Rosický, a.k.a. "the Little Mozart" (Mozart was Austrian, not Czech), gives Arsenal the lead in the 51st. And Theo Walcott scores in the 65th, and again in the 68th, providing the final score of 5-2. Tottenham are shellshocked, and the Emirates parties like never before in, well, its brief 6-year history.
It is a win that, uh, spurs the Gunners on to make a great run-in, and Tottenham never recover. Arsenal end up finishing 3rd, 1 point ahead of Tottenham, but 19 points behind League winners Manchester City.
Nine months later, the teams would play at the Emirates again. With the same exact scoreline: As would be printed in English football, "Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham."
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February 26, 2012 was a Sunday. This was also the day that Trayvon Martin was murdered. I have a separate entry for that event.
Baseball and football were out of season. The NBA played its All-Star Game that day, not far from the site of the shooting, at the Amway Center in Orlando. The West beat the East, 152-149. LeBron James for the East, and Kevin Durant for the West, each scored 36 points. Durant was named the game's Most Valuable Player.
There were 7 games played in the National Hockey League that day:
* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-3 at the Prudential Center in Newark. Martin St. Louis scored a hat trick for the Bolts.
* The New York Islanders lost to the Ottawa Senators, 5-2 at Scotiabank Place (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa.
* The Florida Panthers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2 at the BankAtlantic Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-2 at the Consol Energy Center (now the PPG Paints Arena) in Pittsburgh.
* The Minnesota Wild beat the San Jose Sharks, 4-3 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
* The Dallas Stars beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Loui Eriksson scored the winning goal with 1:08 left in overtime.
* And the Anaheim Ducks beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-1 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
And in English soccer's Premier League, the North London Derby was contested between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal's home. "Spurs" took a 2-0 lead, and Arsenal came storming back, winning 5-2.
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