Emmanuel Adebayor has been having a pop at Arsenal ahead of the big derby on Saturday, claiming that the Kings of North London can’t handle the pressure.
Well, he clearly didn’t call them the Kings of North London, that would involve him being in touch with reality.
The former Arsenal man said: ’Arsenal are a good team when they have the ball. When they don’t, they are not that good. When you put them under pressure, they can’t handle it.
‘They don’t have a lot of physical presence. Apart from Flamini, I don’t see anyone who puts themselves into a proper battle.
‘Rosicky is not that type of player, Cazorla is not the type of player who defends. Arteta is trying to do it, but that’s not his job.
‘They don’t have anybody who can say, ‘if I have to kick, I will kick. If we have to fight, I will put myself at the front of it’. That’s how we have to play. Push them and force them to make errors.’
What he fails to take into account is how, when the pressure is on him, any time he has faced Arsenal he tends to completely lose his head.
There was the stamp on Robin van Persie’s face when he played for Manchester City, the red card for a crazy tackle on Santi Cazorla at the Emirates not that long ago, and, of course, his complete lack of significant impact the last few times he has faced Arsenal.
Then there’s the fact that Arsenal have just come back from facing Bayern Munich, a team much more capable than Spurs of pressuring any side in the world, with a 1-1 draw from the game on the night.
Should they manage to beat a severely weakened Arsenal side… they will no doubt see their season as a success. DVDs will be produced
There is no doubt that Adebayor and the rest of his shadow-dwelling team-mates will be well up for the game on Sunday. It’s their cup final and all they seem to actually care about.
He also said as much, adding: ‘We know how good we are at home when it comes to Arsenal and we won’t have to motivate anybody for this game.
‘The is the game that everybody will be talking about in London from this point. Tottenham v Arsenal: The North London derby.
‘So I cannot see anybody telling me, “Manu, you have to run. You have to give 100 per cent”.
‘No one will need to tell me that. I know. And people like Aaron Lennon, who has been here for ages, you won’t have to tell players like him anything either.
‘He knows how big it is for the club and the fans.’
Should they manage to beat a severely weakened Arsenal side who, if Kieran Gibbs isn’t playing, will be without all the players who account for 53 per cent of their goal tally this season, they will no doubt see their season as a success. DVDs will be produced.
Arsenal, on the other hand, know that victory on Sunday will keep them in the hunt for yet another league and cup double.
That’s the pressure Arsenal are under, Ade, and we’ve proven in the past that we can handle it a lot better than Spurs.
