Spurs v Arsenal – The North London derby is never a friendly

This is the first time that Arsenal have come up against our biggest rivals Tottenham in a pre-season game for over 30 years, and there is probably a very good reason for that.

A mixture of Arsenal and Spurs fans is always going to be a volatile affair, even if they met in a pub after a local flower show, so if any Arsenal fans infiltrate White Hart Lane tomorrow it is surely going to be very adrenaline-filled if my experiences are anything to go by.

But this game has been arranged for good causes with half the money going to charitable entities like MIND and the clubs foundations, so we can hope for a pleasant game, but you can bet that no-one wants to lose. As Tottenham’s Ben Davies told the official Spurs website: “If you play teams like Arsenal, Chelsea… there is no ‘friendly’ feel about these matches,”

“It is going to be a competitive game and we all want to win. It puts down a marker for the season. I thought we played much better in the second half at Chelsea, we dug in, and that was a decent result in the end, especially with players still to come back into the team.

“We’re all looking forward to Sunday. It’s a long time since we’ve played in front of a big crowd at the stadium and we’re all looking forward to having them back in there, not least for a north London derby!”

But there is actually a MIND Series trophy at stake (please stop with the trophy room jokes!) and as Chelsea beat us last week (we were robbed!) and drew 2-2 with Spurs in midweek they are currently top, BUT if Spurs beat us better than Chelsea did, then they could top the table.

We must not let that happen, and if we can win by a big margin then the goals count in the weird scoring system and maybe we could finish top (ED. Need to check this).

Whatever happens, this will NOT be a friendly game!

Darren N

16 Comments

  1. Let’s hope that Spuds don’t try to kick us off the park like Chelsea did. We could do without more injuries…

  2. Arsenal will beat Spurs. But I kind of fear for our midfield without Thomas Partey Elneny is getting accustomed to errors this pre season games. I guess we still need some steel in our midfield.

    1. You claim we will win, BUT then provide damning evidence to the contrary! ODD OR WHAT!

      As a pro bettor, I always assess all available evidence without FAN BIAS and then decide accordingly.

  3. Local derbies are good.
    Games between teams at opposoite ends of the coutry rarely produce the same atmosphere.
    Keep the derbies but limit the games between teams from opposite ends of the country.
    I have long wanted a 28 match season.
    Divide the league into North and South conferences.
    Each conference has ten teams.
    Teams within each conference plays the other 9 teams twice = 9×2 home and away = 18 games.
    Then each team plays the other conference teams once 5 home 5 away. = 10 games. Total 28 games.
    With less games we coud have a summer season with the League starting in mid March and end at Xmas giving a propper 75 day break away from the horrible Northern European winter.
    League cup should be scrapped.
    Inernational qualifiers should be scrapped.
    Europe should be divided up into 4 leagues of 16.
    Promotion/relegation should be determined by tournament finishing positions doing away with the need for hundreds of ridiculous qualifiers.

    1. Great idea! Then we can try ten a side, no refs, bigger goals, games of 80 mins and play with one arm taped behind the back. In fact, why not change the name of the sport too while we are at it!!
      SARCASM? OH SURELY NOT!

  4. Fans trying to instigate and put pressure on the team to play hard for a friendly

    field a full strength and get injuries for zeor points

  5. It’s been a pretty awful preseason TBF
    A week to go till season opener and we look less prepared than we have for years .
    Another game where a section of fans will say “it’s only preseason “not realising that their heads are stuck so far in the sand they can’t see we are a week away from Brentford .

  6. I would like to see this line up today
    Leno
    Chambers White Mari Tavares
    Lokonga Xhaka
    Pepe Smithrowe Saka
    Auba

    Prediction 2-2

    1. I like your starting team 03, but would put Saka on right with Pepé on left. Balogun, Tierney, Azeez and Laca to be subbed on at some point.

  7. Count Down
    5days to our season opener!

    With few days to the start of the season and our first game against Brentford on Friday I see no improvement whatsoever to a squad that finished 8th last season yet you are staying optimistic.

    Ben White is just a replacement for our most prominent defender last season in person of David Luis even with less experience and ability to what we lost.
    Tavares is a replacement for Kola who will eventually leave after the club terminates his contract in the coming days.
    Lokonga is a replacement for Toreira who I haven’t seen close to the team since coming back from loan though played the copa America for Uruguay.

    Now we’ve lost Cebalos and Õdergard whom returned to their parent club after the loan expired with no replacement for either yet.

    A team that finished 8th is yet reduced in strength and number and we think progress can be made with same lots from last season and same inexperience rigid joke of a manager? I guess not, you don’t keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result over time.

    At this point Arsenal’s ambition is clearer than ever which I think is just to play to remain a premier league side than compete for anything and not even Europe.
    At this point with my favorite play ever at the verge of joining PSG I am negotiating a loan deal myself to be a PSG supporter this season and hopefully come back next season or keep extending my loan deal until Arteta and Edu have been sacked.
    I can’t come and kill myself.

      1. Not wrong, if we don’t sign some quality before transfer window closes then 8 th place again it is.

      2. Let me guess you know what it feels like to be in a toxic relationship especially when you are truly in love but I surely know you have not even the slightest of ideas what it feels like to be a Nigerian living in Nigeria and supporting Arsenal. There is a steady rise in depression and hypertension as our country is on the verge of total collapse with too much hardship therefore football is the main source of cheerfulness, giving us the needed distraction from our country’s numerous wahala(problems) yet Arsenal won’t give you anything to be cheerful about as well as make you lose you bragging rights amongst your friends and peers. Its not easy to leave your true love if not I would have left long ago but like I said I am only going out on loan to PSG until Arteta leaves and probably Edu too.

        Nothing good can come out of this mountain called Arteta at Arsenal cos I have followed his style of play and evaluated his decision making since arriving here
        From Guendozi – Saliba – Martinelli – Martinez – Nketiah – Xhaka – AMN – Willian and to Toreira all terrible decisions with poor man management ability.

        So far Arteta as a manager has signed
        1) Cedric
        2) Mari
        3) Runarson
        4) Partey
        5) Gabriel
        6) Willian
        And now
        1) Tavares
        2) Lokonga
        3) White
        Excluding the loan deals.
        With the first 6 permanent deals only one could be argued as a super regular or an improvement on the side, let me give this current 3 the benefit of doubt and not rate them but certainly White is not an improvement on Luiz on the short term any day any time while Tavarez is just a back up for Tierney.

        To balance your mental health if your Country doesn’t give you anything to be cheerful about your Club should, as my brothers and Friends supporting City, Liverpool and Chelsea have been in recent years, United might not be winning trophies but you see hope in their transfer dealings with the calibre of players brought on.

        I know how rapid Arsenal keeps losing supporters in this part of Africa and its troubling but don’t blame them cos they do it for their health. The good news for us in Nigeria is there won’t be another hell for us so we need football to cheer us up while we endure the cross and wait for Paradise

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