English League Cup third round tie saw two North London rivals against each other at White Hart Lane and Arsenal came back to Emirates with a 2-1 win over arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspurs. A fixture, which is anticipated by millions, turned out to be Mathieu Flamini special who scored twice to seal his side a victory. Calum Chambers will owe to the veteran Frenchman as his own goal was cancelled out and Arsenal won despite the misfortune.
Flamini who was out of favour at Arsenal got his chance in the absence of Santi Cazorla due to suspension and Francis Coquelin due to injury and he proved his point and showed that he still has it. On his first start of the season, he scored his first ever League Cup goal and also scored twice in a match for the first time in his career.
Arsenal lost their last two games, one in Champions League against Dinamo Zagreb and another controversially against bitter rivals Chelsea in Premier League and needed badly to win this game. Flamini, who rejected a move to Galatasaray this summer, to see the last year of his contract with Arsenal will make the fans happy thanks to his 78th minute amazing volley to win the North London derby.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger said: “You do not expect Mathieu Flamini to score two goals, but he really went for it. One the second one, he made the decision early to hit the shot and hit it perfectly. It was a great technique.”
“Mathieu is a fighter and a winner as well. He has shown that. I don’t know how close he was to leaving, but I fought to keep him.”
“But he is at an age where he wants to play and you cannot always guarantee that. He is not happy, but you want that.”
Flamini, known for his tackling rather than his goalscoring, added: “I had a point to prove. People said I was leaving, but I am still here.”
Here are Arsenal player ratings from the game:
David Ospina: 3/5
Could not do much about the Chambers’ own goal. Made few good saves and showed well positioning.
Mathieu Debuchy: 1.5/5
Was poor throughout the game, and incapable of dealing with the pace of Rose and Chadli.
Calum Chambers: 1.5/5
Was decent with the ball but scored a poor own goal. The young Englishman still needs time.
Per Mertesacker: 3/5
Showed why he is such a reliable figure for Arsenal defense after coming back from injury after over one month.
Kieran Gibbs: 3/5
More than defense contributed in attacks well and made a very good partnership with Oxlade-Chamberlain proving threats from the left side.
Mathieu Flamini: 4/5
Man of the match performance by the Frenchman. Passed well, tackled well and showed very good work rate. Recieved a customary yellow-card. It was a complete perfromance from the vetaran.
Mikel Arteta: 2.5/5
Was good defensively and passed well. Much better performance from Arsenal’s last midweek game against Dinamo Zagreb in Champions League.
Joel Campbell: 2.5/5
Was eager to mark his first start since January and attacked well. But his defensive vulnerabilities invited Rose to attack well from the left flank to trouble under performing Debuchy.
Aaron Ramsey: 2/5
Passed well and worked hard as usual and improved with time especially after Spurs scored, but went missing for most of the game.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: 3.5/5
Brilliant display from the young man. Always troubled Trippier and Fazio with pace.
Olivier Giroud: 2/5
Was poor throughout the game. Heavy touches, wrong positioning as he seems to be heavy hearted after constant criticism from fans.
Substitutes-
Alexis Sanchez- 2.5/5
The Chilean wizard is still under-performing this season. Heavy touches and poor shooting will disappoint him. Also got booked.
Theo Walcott- NA
Had hardly any time to be rated on.