Wenger did not manage to convince Vertonghen and he headed off to Spurs. He might have gone anyway but there has to be a sense of a significant miss by Arsenal. Again, the thought re-emerges of whether Wenger might have been more decisive had David Dein still been at the club. Wenger's dithering is costing Arsenal.
The club's transfer policy needs tightening. The wage-bill, reportedly rising close to £150??million, also needs
re-addressing so that recruits of a higher calibre can be brought in. Arsenal sold Robin van Persie for £24??million and spent £13 million on Olivier Giroud, who just lacks the pace, total cohesiveness of touch and unerring finish to be the type of top-class striker Arsenal crave. He has scored nine times in the Premier League, including against the likes of Liverpool and Spurs (at the Emirates), but not against the elite like Manchester United, Manchester City or Chelsea. He is no Jermain Defoe.
Giroud had some chances early on but Vertonghen blocked his first effort and then slid in to pick the ball out from under the feet of the Frenchman. Even a caution from Mark Clattenburg for a trip on Giroud did not distract Vertonghen. He stayed calm and carried on winning the ball. Clattenburg, meanwhile, kept controlling the game well, kept playing advantage where possible, giving one of the best refereeing performances of the season.
As Arsenal stall on the Holloway Road, Spurs threaten to accelerate away. As well as Vertonghen, others contributed to a victory that was greeted with a roar that screamed loudly of local tribalism. Hugo Lloris again commanded his box, beaten once by Per Mertesacker's flicked header, but otherwise untroubled. Wenger looked at Lloris while he was at Lyon but again failed to act. Such hesitancy really is proving expensive.
Michael Dawson was strong alongside Vertonghen. Scott Parker was industrious and disciplined in the centre, ensuring Jack Wilshere had one of his rare quiet games. Bale flickered with flair only in spells but still made it nine goals in seven matches for Spurs. Suggestions that Spurs are a one-man band were silenced amidst applause for a powerful team display here.
Having been subdued for 37 minutes, and having ignored a banana thrown his way from the away end when taking a corner, Bale sprung to life. Gylfi Sigurdsson broke forward, teasing the ball behind Arsenal's square defence. Bale had timed his run well, helped by Mertesacker's slow responses, allowing the Welshman to bend the ball left-footed past Wojciech Szczesny.
A fraction more than two minutes later, Spurs struck again. Parker collected the ball and ran at Arsenal, working the ball forward with the outside of his right foot before guiding it past Mertesacker.
Vermaelen let Lennon run past him, round Szczesny and place the ball into the empty net with his left foot. The drilling of Arsenal defenders in the art of denying opponents space cannot begin soon enough.
Villas-Boas and his assistant Steffen Freund celebrated wildly. Wenger clearly had a word at the break, Arsenal clawing a goal back quickly through Mertesacker from Theo Walcott's free-kick. Arsenal briefly appeared revitalised. Santi Cazorla darted around, looking to find holes in Spurs defence but Vertonghen kept barring the way.
Emmanuel Adebayor then landed awkwardly, and lay there with Spurs players screaming at their Arsenal counterparts to put the ball out.
Arsenal were well within their right to play on and they did. When the move eventually ended, Dawson was furious with the visitors and had a lively, if brief exchange with Vermaelen before receiving a lengthy lecture from Clattenburg. Sadly, Arsenal fans taunted Adebayor, their former player, with that unpleasant chant of "it should have been you", referring to the horrific incident when some of his countrymen died when Togo's bus was attacked at the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola in 2010.
After Adebayor was carried away on a stretcher (and Villa-Boas indicated afterwards that his injury was not serious), Defoe ran on and was found on the right by Bale. Defoe in turn passed to Sigurdsson, who inexplicably squared the ball to no one in particular rather than shoot. Down the other end, Aaron Ramsey wasted a good chance to equalise.
Mertesacker then ambled upfront but Vertonghen had the barricades too well-organised.
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