The horses are coming to the end of their season, the prize is large, and the jockeys will go for broke This is not a trial for anything. They needed it to be the slugging match that it threatened to become in the opening stages, but for the most part Spurs raised themselves above the fray. That Ossie Ardiles was feeling the pressure was clear from the way he was reduced in the second half to a frantically gesturing figure on the touchline.You had to sympathise with Ardiles. Making his way into the box he noticed Whelan had also made his way speedily up the middle.

Kelly at last looked something like the player who won selection for the World Cup, Whelan is yet another of the aware teenage forwards for whom great things beckon if he looks after himself. Instead they must have been overwhelmingly relieved to have beaten Manchester City.It was probably more comfortable than the win early last month over the other Manchester club, but it was still somehow less convincing and certainly less compelling. It should have been a routine victory at Elland Road yesterday. Alas for Arsenal, it was the only time he did.(Photograph omitted).

He coolly knocked it past Seaman.Arsenal began the second half with Kevin Campbell taking the place of Paul Davis, and it was tempting to wonder what they would have done if he had started the match. With only a quarter of an hour gone, John Salako was starting to look fast and dangerous though it was a while before he had the support to capitalise, as if his team mates couldn't quite believe that Tony Adams and Andy Linighan were so ripe to be pasted. Even in a gloomy autumnal light, red shirts are not that hard to spot.Palace might not be the loftiest of opponents, but at least they had a buzz about them. It might be all right, just, to lose away to Liverpool and Newcastle, but at home to Crystal Palace?When, three minutes into the game, Wright caught Martyn on the hop and forced a palms-out parry from the Palace keeper, it looked as though Arsenal were going to put a string of so-so results behind them, but that moment was misleading. The substitute's aggression helped stoke Rovers' desperate attempts to salvage a point. Outrun and often out-thought in midfield, it was no surprise that Rovers' skipper, Tim Sherwood, was replaced by Robbie Slater 10 minutes after Newsome's goal.

A big English defender brushing aside three challenges and, as he is falling, hitting a shot that deceives the country's most expensive goalkeeper does stretch the credibility. From that moment on, however, the script was firmly shredded by a Norwich performance notable for guts and determination, and Blackburn slunk away from East Anglia smarting over their first Premiership defeat.Coming on top of their midweek European failure, this setback should give some perspective to the real potential of Kenny Dalglish's multi-million-pound squad. Le Tissier also created the second, finding space on the left to send in one of his stunning volleys from 25 yards, which came down off the crossbar for Ekelund to head home.Southampton looked to have the game won, with Jason Dodd forcing a sprawling save from Forrest, and Dowie heading against the outside of the post. Boncho Guenchev was left as the lone forward while Steve Palmer was deployed to do a man-marking job on Matthew Le Tissier. It looked over-cautious against a side with Wednesday's modest record this season.