Tottenham 2 - 1 Arsenal: Walker adds to Wenger’s woes as he delivers Spurs derby win

TOTTENHAM full-back Kyle Walker admitted “it doesn’t get much better than that” after his 30-yard strike settled the north London derby against Arsenal.

Rafael van der Vaart’s controversial first-half effort – he appeared to use his arm to bring the ball down – opened the scoring for Spurs yesterday before Aaron Ramsey equalised six minutes after the break. Walker then scored with a superb strike which swerved at the last moment to beat Gunners keeper Wojciech Szczesny.

Walker told Sky Sports 1: “It doesn’t get much better than that. I just picked the ball up and hit it. I had one of them against Fulham for Aston Villa so I thought: ‘Why not take a chance.’ I just thought: ‘Why not have a go.’ If you don’t buy a lottery ticket you don’t win the lottery.”

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp praised his young defender, who has spent time on loan with QPR and Aston Villa. “He’s a great attacking full-back and he loves to get forward,” Redknapp said. “It was a good strike from Karl. He’s had a good start to the season.”

Redknapp was pleased his tactics came to fruition as Arsenal’s poor start to the season continued. “They had a lot of possession in the first half. It was difficult. They played with three in midfield with one up and so they were always going to hold sway in terms of possession. I played two strikers so I went for a very attacking team and we got the goal before half-time. The win moves Tottenham into sixth place in the Barclays Premier League while Arsenal are now in 15th. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will feel hard done by given his team controlled much of the match, but Tottenham’s superior finishing meant they prevailed to heap further pressure on the Frenchman, who has now suffered four league defeats from seven matches.

In contrast, Redknapp’s team have won four straight games and are well and truly back on track for their Champions League assault after a wobbly start. Just two days after celebrating his 15th anniversary in charge, Wenger, on the other hand, must now attempt to pick his team’s spirits up again.

Spurs should have gone ahead in the seventh minute when Song’s misplaced pass allowed Van der Vaart to play Scott Parker in, but he drove straight at keeper Szczesny. Arsenal then went on to dominate for the next half hour, but failed to make the pressure count. Comfortable in possession, it looked only a matter of time before they scored. But Van Persie could only flick a header wide, Walcott’s deflected shot crept past the post and Ramsey’s header was hooked off the line by Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Spurs survived the onslaught.

The Gunners’ best chance of the first half came soon after when Gervinho, in yards of space inside the box, side-footed wide from Van Persie’s cross. The chance appeared to wake Tottenham. The hosts broke the deadlock in the 40th minute when Van der Vaart chested down Adebayor’s cross-field ball and volleyed past Szczesny.

Buoyed by the opener, Bale tried two audacious attempts that flew just over. Their joy was to be shortlived, however, as Song, given too much space by Van der Vaart, ventured in to the box from the byline and cut back for Ramsey who turned in. The game then went in to a bit of a lull until Walker brought it back to life. The ball fell to the youngster 30 yards out following Song’s block on Luka Modric’s shot and the full-back hammered a bullet of a shot which flew past Szczesny’s out-stretched hand.

Bale had a chance to kill the game moments later, but he shinned an effort just wide when through on goal.

Arsenal’s push for an equaliser left them exposed at the back, but Szczesny was equal to the challenge, pulling off a world-class save to deny Jermaine Defoe from close range.