Derby Day, North London Style
The North London Derby holds a unique place in the hearts and minds of Tottenham Hotspur fans. Amongst a litany of clubs that don’t like them, Arsenal is by far the most vehemently and reciprocally hated.
Born out of an invasion over 100 years ago, the matches between these two are always fiery, full of storylines where heroes and villains can be made in the space of 90 minutes.
The latest iteration of that took place on February 22nd, as Arsenal travelled the short distance from Islington to Tottenham and were welcomed with arguably the most intense and hostile atmosphere the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has seen this season, and even as far as back as the Europa League semi-final home match vs Bodo/Glimt last campaign.
The mood surrounding Tottenham Hotspur hadn’t been as high as it was pre-match in six months. Spurs had sacked universally disliked Danish head coach Thomas Frank and replaced him with the Croatian disciplinarian Igor Tudor. Tudor’s early invigorating public communications were a stark contrast to the forlorn and often monotonous Thomas Frank media appearances.
The phrase “Tudor is To Do” was floating around social media and Spurs fans were eagerly anticipating a new manager bounce, much more impetus from their available players, and a just a renewed sense that, even with all the chaos off it, the team was moving forward and in the right trajectory on the pitch.
They also had the advantage of week and a half to prepare whilst Arsenal played two extra games in that period, including a disappointing draw against Wolves 4 days ago. Manchester City had won against Newcastle on Saturday evening, meaning anything other than an Arsenal win would’ve had the Citizens breathing down the Gunners neck.
With Arsenal’s recent track record of coming up short in the most crucial moments, Spurs were eager and even more hopeful than usual of a derby win to commemorate the potential derailing of Arsenal’s title charge, all while securing themselves three crucial points in their bid to avoid the drop.
Entering the stadium, particularly around the notoriously intense and passionate South Stand, it felt like a new dawn at Spurs, full of blinding optimism and baseless hope, which is what football is all about. Anti-Arsenal chants echoed around the concourse and all signs pointed towards a battle for the ages, a contest that could make or break both teams seasons.
As the fans took their seats, a beautiful tifo that read “North LDN since 1882” encompassed the South Stand, poking fun at Arsenal’s invasion of North London as it shone brightly in the mild afternoon sun. “Oh when the Spurs go marching in” was deafening and almost drowned out the referee’s whistle to issue the start of the game.
The Match
The game itself would start off fast paced and end to end and Arsenal held most of the ball early on as Spurs battled resiliently and fiercely. Every tackle, particularly the trademark full-blooded ones of the Joao Palhinha variant, were cheered.
Despite the atmosphere though, the match quickly settled into a familiar pattern of Arsenal possession, or rather more pertinently, Spurs wasting most of the chances they did actually get on the ball. Arsenal fired wide through Gyokeres, more on him later, and the opportunities were starting to build up for the Gunners.
And it would be Tottenham’s mortal enemy Eberechi Eze who struck first after Bukayo Saka just about got past Pape Sarr and drilled a low cross in on his weaker foot before Eze tapped home. Spurs wouldn’t allow themselves to be counted out yet though, and not two minutes later, after Declan Rice lost the ball high up the pitch to Randal Kolo Muani, the Frenchman would hold off an Arsenal defender and fire past David Raya to make it 1–1.
The two teams went in at the break all square, with Arsenal having been the better team but the scoreline feeling somewhat deserved given the quality of chances. The second half restart would be delayed after a technology problem that stopped the first half early on and contributed eight minutes of added time reemerged.
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Eventually the teams got underway again, and this is where it would all fall apart for Tottenham Hotspur, yet again. Arsenal attacked straight out of the gates and not three minutes into the second half, Victor Gyokeres would curl a powerful shot beyond Vicario to make it 2–1. The away fans were in raptures, but the most controversial event of the match was still to come.
Six minutes after Arsenal retook the lead, Conor Gallagher swept a ball into the box from the right hand side and Randal Kolo Muani controlled the ball and powered in his second equaliser of the day. The referee quickly ruled it out though, as Kolo Muani was adjudged to have pushed Gabriel in the back. Replays showed there was two hands of contact, but Gabriel appeared to have made the most of it.
To Spurs’ dismay, following the goal being ruled out, they never really stood a chance. Eze would soon enough score his brace, taking his total against Spurs for the season to five goals in just two games. Spurs top scorer Richarlison came off the bench to make his return from injury and had a shot clawed off the line by David Raya to deny the Brazilian making it 3–2.
Arsenal controlled the game from then on, limiting and pressing Spurs back for the last half an hour, before Gyokeres would compound the Lilywhites misery by making it 4–1 in added time, repeating the scoreline from the Emirates earlier in the season. It was a miserable afternoon for all concerned with the club, and for a team that had the game at 2–2 to then lose 4–1 just about sums up Spurs’ season.
Post-match
The post-game reaction from Spurs varied depending on their persuasion. The fans were vociferously angry and seething on social media, as the threat of relegation looms larger and larger with each loss. Arsenal fans were in dreamland, poking fun and winding up any Spurs fan they could spin into their web.
The players looked downtrodden, as they have done for the majority of the season. A video circulating around X appeared to show the captain for the game, Micky Van de Ven, ignoring new manager Igor Tudor’s instruction to step up during the match. It’s really not a good look for Tudor’s first game in charge, and the Croat will need to have strong words after the Dutchman ignored Thomas Frank as well earlier in the season.
The reality at Spurs now is that they are dangerously close to relegation, just four points off being in the relegation zone. Wolves are almost certainly a lost cause, as perhaps are Burnley, but Nottingham Forest, West Ham, Leeds and Spurs are all in danger of occupying that last relegation spot.
Relegation would spell disaster for all of those clubs for a variety of reasons, but arguably the biggest disaster would be for Spurs. Their economic might is such that, aside from Juventus’ Calciopoli-enforced relegation, a relegation for a club this size as a European title holder would be unprecedented.
They’ve brought in Igor Tudor for the rest of the season in an attempt to stave off relegation, and the Arsenal game both can and can’t be read into too much. On one hand, it was a game they were expected to lose, and they did play like a team in 16th place in the Premier League table.
On the other hand, it is a continuation of the type of performance under Thomas Frank. Tudor cannot be expected to get his ideas across immediately in one game, much less against the champions-elect in the biggest derby match for at least three years.
What can be looked into at the moment is the attitude of the players, and how it seems from the outside peering in, that they don’t have the motivation to drag the club out of a relegation battle.
What can change overnight is the mood and the feeling. For the fans, there was such jubilation before the game, and to come away that disappointingly is a kick in the teeth for a lot of them.
But when the players can’t be motivated by a new manager bounce, in a game that can potentially derail your derby opponents title charge at such a crucial juncture of the season, spells massive danger indeed about the type of players Spurs will have to depend on to get them out of a relegation battle that feels more real with each passing week.
It is a dire situation in N17, one which wasn’t even remotely fathomable even nine months ago when they were sat lower than they are now, but with a European trophy under their belt, and safely away from relegation. This season it is a different story, and one which, if Spurs aren’t careful, could end with the ultimate unhappy ending.
