Bale-force Spurs sitting pretty ahead of north London derby
The latest entry in Bale’s season-long list of exquisite moments came in the 90th minute against West Ham on Monday night, and the groans of disappointment did not just reverberate around Upton Park.
Arsenal fans watched in agony as the reality of their season came into view — the distinct possibility they could finish below Spurs for the first time under Arsene Wenger’s stewardship.
Bale settled arguably the most entertaining match of the season with a delicious winner to hand Andre Villas-Boas’ side a 3-2 win against West Ham — and a four point advantage on Arsenal ahead of the derby.
It could be seven points by Sunday evening and Parker believes Villas-Boas could be about to end the gloats from their adversaries.
“Tottenham fans and Tottenham as a club have probably been in the shadows of Arsenal a little bit,” he admitted.
“But we’ve narrowed the gap. We’ve got players in our squad that Arsenal would want any day of the week. We’re going to go and give it a good game.
“It’s a big game for us, if we go and win we can push away a little bit, so it will be important.”
At 2-1 down at Upton Park, Tottenham were in danger of handing Arsenal the initiative in the fight for fourth and the quest for Champions League football.
But then came Bale.
Arsenal fans have grown accustomed to celebrating ‘St. Totteringham’s Day’, a celebration of the time when Spurs cannot catch Arsenal in the Premier League.
They have celebrated it every season since 1994-95, including last campaign when Wenger’s side overhauled a 10-point deficit.
Ahead of the weekend’s duel at White Hart Lane, Parker believes Monday’s win over West Ham would have dented Arsenal’s optimism, but has warned his side against complacency.
He said: “It’s deflating isn’t it? “I’ve been in that position when you’re playing and you’re watching the scores come up and it goes ‘last minute goal at wherever’ and you’re praying it’s the other team — and it isn’t, it’s the team that you don’t want to score.
“So it is deflating as a player on the opposite end, and I’m sure the Arsenal players are like that.
“You’d like to think (top four is assured if we beat Arsenal) but you never say never in football, and last year proved that. We had a very comfortable gap last year and then Arsenal clawed it back, so you wouldn’t want to count anything.”
The last word, like on Monday, goes to Bale. The Welshman has even drawn comparisons with Cristiano Ronaldo as his season jumps from one defining moment to another and Parker is running out of superlatives.
“Words can’t really describe how well he’s playing at the moment,” he added. “Yet again he’s stepped up and got the three points. I suppose he’s just scoring critical goals that make headlines. The goals he’s scoring are last-minute winners, and I suppose that’s putting him right at the forefront and rightly so. He’s a fantastic player.”
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