The Emirates Stadium hosted the 184th north London derby on Sunday, in what was a rather unremarkable affair. Arsenal and Spurs were evenly matched as the latter extended their unbeaten run, while Liverpool climbed to top of the division after taking advantage of a Manchester City draw.
The derby has a reputation for thrilling and being bad-tempered football, but the big match was a tactical deadlock that failed to live up to its name. Mauricio Pochettino’s seemingly risky experiment of a back three worked against an Arsenal side whose attacking line, led by Alexis Sanchez, failed to penetrate the impressive trio who executed the offside trap to perfection.
Ronald Koeman’s similar defensive trial failed miserably against a rampant Chelsea side, eventually becoming victims of a 5-0 thrashing. Both derby goals came from set-pieces (a Wimmer own goal assisted by an Ozil free-kick and a Harry Kane penalty, making it five goals in four derbies for the young Englishman returning from injury), demonstrating the lack of innovation shown in open play.
Ultimately, however, both managers would happily take a point out of a game which could possibly (with the current tantalisingly close top-end of the table), end up being a title decider.
The major debate of the day surrounded Kevin Wimmer’s own goal, which was deemed by the assistant-referee and experienced official Howard Webb on BT Sport to be correctly allowed. Law 11 states that a player is offside if they ‘interfere with play’. In Alexis Sanchez’s case (the offside culprit), he did not directly break this rule, however he must have influenced Wimmer’s decision-making.
At the speed of the game, the Spurs defender could not have known that Alexis was offside, and therefore was forced to head the ball to prevent him having a clear shot on goal. Therefore, Alexis’ illegal presence in an offside position could be construed to have interfered with play.
The offside rule is so vaguely stated that referees are forced to interpret the subtleties of the law for themselves. In matches of such importance, in which these decisions can define a season, the refereeing rules must be considered a failure. If we want more accuracy and less room for shallow debate, the rules must be written in a way which can be understood universally.
Despite this ignition of an argument regarding the technicalities of footballing law, the derby was a relatively dull stalemate. Both Premier League clubs have consolidated their position in the title race, with five points separating the top five teams.
This season looks to be as tight as Sunday’s North London derby, but hopefully it will be much more exciting.
Joshua Korber Hoffman is a 15-year-old football fanatic and Arsenal supporter. He writes a football blog called The Young Gun, in which his love for writing and the beautiful game intersect.
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