If Justice or Karma exist, we will be in the Champions' league next year.

First of all we should all admit it: Sp*rs outplayed us in the first half, and we were fortunate to go in level. I say fortunate - Jens was a behemoth, a monolith, an impenentrable, immovable object which Sp*rs could not penetrate. We sat back too much and didn't get in amongst them. Adey and RvP did not link up well; Diaby looked a bit average; Gilbs passing radar was non-existant; Lennon caused the Flamster a host of problems.

Second half, and a different game. While I hope Phil is ok, Eboue immediately made a difference at r-b. Djourou has looked a bit edgy there, and he looked far more comfortable when he was moved to centre half. We began to pile on the pressure, and should have gone one up when Robin was put through. His miss was unforgivable, and not Arsenal standard.

Once Fab and Tel were on - i.e. we were actually playing with something resembling a full strength team, although we really missed Hleb today - we began to take Sp*rs apart.

And then it happened: an incident which will never be forgotten. Gilbs and Eboue clattered into each other and Eboue went down, clearly injured. Now, in England, when this happens, the other team puts the ball out. It's called sportsmanship. Instead, with the Arsenal team pausing to await the stoppage, Davids flew down the wing, crossed the ball and Keane scored.

This, and I will be frank, is cheating - gamesmanship of the highest level. I thought for a moment Davids was protesting that the goal not stand as he hadn't realised what had happened. But no. The spudsl were 1 up. Jens screamed blue murder at Davids, and i thought he was going to push him over and get a red card - thankfully the referee accepted that Jens' anger was justified, and nothing further happened. Arsene was so angry he squared up to Jol on the touchline; he subsequently refused to shake his hand after the game. I wonder if Spurs will make the same offer that we did to Sheff Utd when a similar incident happened Kanu did this to them at Highbury. Somehow, I doubt it.

We were outraged, and from the restart we hammered at them. I was apoplectic with rage, and when Jose's - who was excellent today - volley was saved superbly by Robinson, I thought that this was it. Last Nlondon derby and we go out like this.

But no.

Adebayor - who improved markedly after tel came on - deftly controlled the ball and fed it through to Tel who, holding off the defenders at his side in a, even for him, heroic fashion, then sweetly nudged the ball into the corner of the net.

Joy unconfined. I don't think i'd celebrated that hard all season; and Tel also celebrated with a level of rage induced delight that we haven't often seen from him this year. I did see, in the celebrations the seeds of a signed contract: this derby means as much to him as it does to us. How could he give us up? After the goal, karma was obviously re-aligning the world, but had not quite done enough by the final whistle, despite us being manifestly on top. Davids was rightly sent off the near the end - realising the predicition I'd made half way through the 1st half.

So, if we're all being honest, the spuds probably secured fourth place today. But they were not the better team, and only outplayed us in the first half when we had a clearly weakened team. They can bang on about missing King, Mido, and Jenas - but in the first half we missed Henry, Fabregas, Hleb, Ljunberg, Sol and Ash. They had the advantage and they didn't take it.

So, as the title suggests we now have to rely on the intangible forces of karma and justice, or to merely hope that 'cheats doth never prosper'. Sp*rs scored today through gamesmanship and cheating, and did not outplay us over the 90 minutes. I had thought that it might be a bit harsh if we took their CL spot if we won the CL. Not any more: it will be karma realigining the cosmos, it will be justice being served, and it will be the better team entering the competition.