Source: Daily_Mail
Tottenham v Arsenal, Chelsea v Birmingham live
Follow Sportsmail's coverage of the Barclays Premier League with the north London derby between Tottenham and Arsenal at White Hart Lane taking the spotlight in the night's two fixtures. Spurs are desperate for three points to keep up their bid for a Champions League place but the Gunners will be just as keen to claim a win to boost their title hopes.[LNB]Chelsea host Birmingham in the other encounter with the champions also in the hunt for the title, but Alex McLeish's side are battling relegation and a win would take them up into the top 10.[LNB] 21.21: Now Arsenal go close, Fabregas' shot from the edge of the box is only parried by Gomes, but Dawson this time is first to clear.[LNB]21.19: Nearly Tottenham! Younes Kaboul whips in a low cross and Modric's low shot from 12 yards is superbly saved by the feet of Szczesny. Brilliant reactions there.[LNB]21.17: GOAL! TOTTENHAM 3-3 Arsenal[LNB]No question about this, Szczesny clearly hauls down Lennon and Rafael van der Vaart steps up to smash his penalty into the corner. A truly classic encounter and I don't dare pick a winner.[LNB]21.16: PENALTY (Tottenham)[LNB]21.13: Ah here he is along with Anelka. They come on for Kalou and Malouda respectively.[LNB]21.12: Chelsea in cruise control at the Bridge. Time for Torres surely?[LNB]21.09: Can see another goal in this one. Spurs throwing bodies forward but Arsenal are always deadly on the counter. The Gunners defending very well and Spurs are lacking ideas.[LNB]21.06: GOAL! CHELSEA 3-0 Birmingham[LNB]That is how you make an impact! Ryan Bertrand is a second-half sub for Ashley Cole and he plays a ball to Florent Malouda at the near post who heads home. Three points in the bag.[LNB]21.03: Lucky boy is Gomes, Van Persie's shot goes straight through him and into the back of the net almost exactly like how Ronaldo beat him last week. He is spared his blushes by the offside flag though, wonder if Redknapp has taken note of that, he can't keep doing this.[LNB]21.02: STAMP IT OUT! First Clichy, then Van der Vaart appeal for the opposition to get booked for what looks like no more than a trivial matter.[LNB]Martin Atkinson doesn't need your help lads.[LNB]21.00: Top save from Szczesny. Van der Vaart manages to find space as he runs on to a pass on the edge of the box but his powerful left foot effort across goal is well pushed behind by the keeper.[LNB]20.57: Arsenal win a free-kick 20 yards out but after Spurs clear, then win a throw in Arsenal make a change. Wilshere on for Diaby.[LNB]20.54: I can't remember the last time Spurs scored from a direct free-kick but I am going to have to wait longer as Van der Vaart's effort just fizzes over the bar.[LNB]20.53: Bright start for Spurs, they win a free-kick just 20 yards out after Djourou ploughs through Modric. He joins Gael Clichy and Alex Song in the referee's notebook for a similar tackle those two made either side of the interval.[LNB]20.50: Two subs for Spurs. Aaron Lennon is on for Bale while Younes Kaboul, who scored the winner at the Emirates, replaces Corluka.[LNB]20.48: Back underway at Stamford Bridge.[LNB]20.37: Sorry for the lack of updates Chelsea fans but this has been a scintillating derby. I argue there isn't a better one in terms of action in the Premier League at least. These teams have averaged at five goals in their games this season.[LNB]20.35: Half-time: Tottenham 2-3 Arsenal[LNB]20.34: We are into four minutes added on at White Hart Lane. Modric goes down in the box but he is going over long before Djourou's challenge and that is never a penalty.[LNB]20.33: Half-time: Chelsea 2-0 Birmingham[LNB] Lifeline: Tom Huddlestone struck just before half-time for Spurs[LNB]20.31: GOAL! TOTTENHAM 2-3 Arsenal[LNB]What is it with Spurs players and wonder strikes in this fixture! Much like Danny Rose last season, Tom Huddlestone has hit a superb left-foot volley from 25 yards that goes through Van der Vaart's legs and everyone else as Spurs are handed a lifeline.[LNB]20.29: How is our PFA Player of the Year doing? Not very well, two collisions with Szczesny aside (where he has come off worse) Bale has done very, very little.[LNB] Double Dutch: Van Persie (left) beats Dawson to the ball to score Arsenal's third goal[LNB]20.27: GOAL! Tottenham 1-3 ARSENAL[LNB]Finally Gomes comes alive...pity about the defence. Robin van Persie's close range header is well saved by the keeper but there is no Spurs defender to clear it and the Dutchman can't believe his luck as he fires into an empty net. [LNB]20.24: Drogba has been on fire this evening and he nearly scores the goal he deserves quite frankly, but his 25-yard-strike forces a good save from Ben Foster who palms away.[LNB]20.21: Brilliant from Roman Pavlyuchenko. He mugs Johan Djourou on the touchline before running across the box and firing a shot that deflects off the recovering centre-back for a corner. The Russian has looked the better of the two Spurs strikers.[LNB]20.18: Some life in Spurs? After a spell of pressure form a corner, Modric rockets one on target from inside the box that although is straight at Szczesny, forces the keeper to parry away.[LNB]20.16: Ohhhh what a chance for Arsenal. Walcott manages to find a gap between the defence again but as he enters the box he fires a shot inches wide across goal.[LNB] Going for goal: Kalou (left) doubles Chelsea's lead with a powerful strike[LNB]20.13: GOAL! CHELSEA 2-0 Birmingham[LNB]You would fancy the hosts already look home and hosed. Salomon Kalou has little options from distance so instead elects to shoot and it's a stunner, contender for goal of the month there.[LNB]20.11: Abou Diaby has got away with that. He clatters right through the back of Luka Modric but astonishingly doesn't even get penalised for a foul. He should be booked for that and the Croatian is still down.[LNB]20.08: Chelsea on top against Birmingham, but there is a threat from the visitors as Cameron Jerome's shot from 15 yards out is tipped behind by Petr Cech. [LNB]20.05: More concern for Spurs fans as Van der Vaart looks to be struggling with his hamstring, will keep you posted on that.[LNB]The other concern is they still can't get the ball.[LNB] Gunned down: Nasri (right) fires Arsenal back into the lead[LNB]20.02: It's all Arsenal and Spurs just can't get the ball. You would think the Gunners are the home team.[LNB]19.59: GOAL! Tottenham 1-2 ARSENAL[LNB]This won't stay like this, the defending has been awful all round! Samir Nasri is allowed to charge at the Spurs back four before firing past Gomes. It's all gone quiet again apart from a little red corner inside the ground.[LNB]19.56: Smart save from Gomes who palms away Robin van Persie's shot from an acute angle for a corner. Spurs clear their lines from the set-piece.[LNB] Response: Van der Vaart (left) smashes the equaliser home for Spurs[LNB]19.53: GOAL! TOTTENHAM 1-1 Arsenal[LNB]What a start to this evening! Vedran Corluka picks out Rafael van der Vaart on the edge of the box and the Dutchman smashes past Wojciech Szczesny's near post. White Hart Lane erupts.[LNB]19.51: GOAL! Tottenham 0-1 ARSENAL[LNB]THIS is easy. Cesc Fabregas plays a simple through ball that rips apart the Spurs defence and Theo Walcott easily clips the ball past a helpless Heurelho Gomes, he never even had the chance to fumble it.[LNB] Up and running: Malouda (centre) celebrates scoring Chelsea's opening goal[LNB]19.49: GOAL! CHELSEA 1-0 Birmingham[LNB]Easy. Didier Drogba nods on Paolo Ferreira's cross for Florent Malouda who makes no mistake by slamming home, no crisis here.[LNB]19.48: Bright start from Spurs, Vedran Corluka hits an excellent cross into the centre which just evades Gareth Bale. Seconds later Luka Modric fires just wide of the post.[LNB]19.46: Both games are underway.[LNB]19.44: Some pointless pre-match predictions from me:[LNB]Chelsea 2-0 Birmingham (No Torres goal)Tottenham 0-2 Arsenal[LNB]19.41: Teams are out in both games on a warm sunny evening in London.[LNB]19.38: Interesting from Redknapp as he claims Spurs are in 'good form'. One shaky win against a Stoke side with an eye on an FA Cup semi-final is hardly sparkling stuff...[LNB]19.35: Back on Torres watch. Starting on the bench, I won't give him too much stick but I do hope I'm about to see him score his first goal for Chelsea. In 20 years times there will be conversations about where you was when he finally scored.[LNB]19.32: Not just bragging rights on the line too. Arsenal can slip to third if Chelsea and Spurs win tonight and you would have to fancy their title chances would be as good as over.[LNB]Spurs meanwhile can go level with fourth place Manchester City with a win in the race for the final Champions League spot. A draw is pretty much a disaster for both sides so we should have a winner![LNB]19.29: And who can forget this game last season? With Danny Rose's thunderbolt volley on his Premier League debut helping Spurs to 2-1 win. I don't think he has been since.[LNB] Dream debut: Rose (centre) celebrates scoring against Arsenal on his Premier League debut[LNB]19.27: Still at least we should have a stunning game. Tottenham won the reverse fixture 3-2 after being 2-0 behind this season, while Arsenal won a Carling Cup encounter at the Lane 4-1 back in September.[LNB]It's never normally dull that's for sure. Even the 0-0s are tasty affairs.[LNB]19.24: Changes galore for the north London derby then and that is a bold move by Wenger to leave Wilshere out.[LNB]But I think a gamble by Redknapp. Crouch and Pavlyuchenko have not often worked well together and Van der Vaart surely is not as effective out on the right?[LNB]For his sake I hope this is something he has worked on rather than something he thought up on the 279 bus coming into White Hart Lane.[LNB]19.22: Arsene Wenger makes a surprise decision to replace Jack Wilshere with Alex Song in Arsenal's midfield for tonight's north London derby at White Hart Lane.[LNB]The Gunners boss chooses to drop Wilshere to the bench after a run of 13 straight Barclays Premier League starts left the Professional Footballers' Association Young Player of the Year tired.[LNB]Bacary Sagna comes in for Emmanuel Eboue at right-back while Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp recalls Peter Crouch in place of Aaron Lennon.[LNB]Rafael van der Vaart is expected to shift to the right flank, leaving Crouch to partner Roman Pavlyuchenko up front.[LNB]19.19: Never mind Arsenal's title hopes for now, Chelsea's could be well and truly shipwrecked if they fail to win tonight. A draw would leave them eight points behind Manchester United with just five to play and at this stage of the season, you have to fancy that is unassailable.[LNB]The inclusion of Drogba over Torres pretty much underlines that. Ancelotti appears to be wearing his common sense hat this evening.[LNB]19.16: Fernando Torres fails to earn a recall for Chelsea's Barclays Premier League game against Birmingham tonight as Carlo Ancelotti makes just one change from Saturday's win at West Brom.[LNB]Torres' omission is significant as it is the first time he has been left out of the XI for two successive games, with Ancelotti appearing to acknowledge Didier Drogba is in far better form.[LNB]Paulo Ferreira replaces the injured Branislav Ivanovic at right-back while Birmingham make two changes, with Alexander Hleb handed his first start for two months and Keith Fahey his first for six-and-a-half weeks.[LNB]19.13: From Stamford Bridge:[LNB]Chelsea v BirminghamChelsea: Cech, Ferreira, David Luiz, Terry, Cole, Essien, Mikel, Lampard, Kalou, Drogba, Malouda. Subs: Turnbull, Ivanovic, Torres, Benayoun, Zhirkov, Anelka, Bertrand.Birmingham: Foster, Carr, Johnson, Ridgewell, Parnaby, Larsson, Gardner, Ferguson, Fahey, Hleb, Jerome. Subs: Doyle, Bowyer, Phillips, Bentley, Derbyshire, Beausejour, Davies.Referee: Mike Jones (Cheshire)[LNB]19.10: From White Hart Lane:[LNB]Tottenham v ArsenalTottenham: Gomes, Corluka, Gallas, Dawson, Assou-Ekotto, Huddlestone, Modric, Bale, Van der Vaart, Pavlyuchenko, Crouch. Subs: Cudicini, Kaboul, Lennon, Defoe, Bassong, Sandro, Pienaar.Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Djourou, Koscielny, Clichy, Song, Walcott, Fabregas, Diaby, Nasri, van Persie. Subs: Lehmann, Ramsey, Squillaci, Wilshere, Arshavin, Gibbs, Bendtner.Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire)[LNB]19.05: So what a huge game we have in front of us tonight. Two teams both desperate for three points for different reasons which could even see one side's title chances go up in smoke...[LNB]...but that is enough about Chelsea v Birmingham, we have a blockbuster north London derby to get our teeth stuck into! Team news coming up.[LNB] Dutch delight: Rafael van der Vaart celebrates scoring during Spurs' 3-2 win at Arsenal earlier this season[LNB] You would have been sacked in Spain over trophy drought, Fabregas tells WengerDefiant Ancelotti says ?50m flop Torres WILL score before end of the seasonLosing Larsson on a free will cost Birmingham ?15m, warns RidgewellRedknapp won't sell Gomes despite keeper's latest gaffe against Madrid[LNB] Explore more:People: Harry Redknapp, Alex Song, Jack Wilshere, Fernando Torres, Aaron Lennon, Peter Crouch, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Didier Drogba, Luka Modric, Alex McLeish, Bacary Sagna, Emmanuel Eboue, Danny Rose, Gareth Bale, Carlo Ancelotti, Martin Atkinson, Robin Van Persie, Theo Walcott, Petr Cech, Johan Djourou Places: London, Birmingham
