Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal played out a 0-0 draw in a bore North London derby on Sunday. Arsenal played most of the game with a man down, following the sending off of Emmanuel Eboue before half-time. Spurs new boy Robbie Keane was immediately rushed into action as he skippered the home side upon his return to White Hart Lane. At the other end, Russian ace Andrei Arshavin remained on the bench for the Gunners due to his lack of match fitness. Arsenal suffered a double blow ten minutes from the break when Emmanuel Adebayor was stretchered off with injury, two minutes before Eboue received his marching orders. African Footballer of the Year candidate Adebayor seemed to have pulled a hamstring, while Ivorian midfielder Eboue, who was already in the book, unnecessarily lashed out at Luka Modric to go off.
Keane could have scored a debut goal Coach Arsene Wenger brought on Nicklas Bendtner for Adebayor as he applied no change to his midfield after Eboue's expulsion. Keane had a chance to get on the scoresheet 12 minutes after the interval, but he squandered a free header over the bar. Arsenal seemed to be holding on to the away draw but they lost another man four minutes from the end, when Gael Clichy had his head covered with blood, following a challenge with Darren Bent. Surprisingly, the best action of the second half came in injury time, with Bendtner forcing a great save from Carlo Cudicini, who denied the Dane's powerful strike. Shortly after, Spurs caught Arsenal on the counter and Modric should have scored the easiest chance of the game after being released by Keane to go on one with Manuel Almunia, but the latter blocked the Croat's sluggish finish. The draw leaves Arsenal in fifth place with 44 points, while Spurs remain 15th on 25.
