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Arsenal vs Tottenham – History, Chivalrous Rivalry, Mind Games & Early Team News

 

North London Derby – A Game Like No Other

When you speak about rivalries in club football in Europe, Real Madrid vs Barcelona, Inter vs AC Milan, Rangers vs Celtic, Arsenal vs Tottenham and Mersey side derby are the ones that comes to the mind first. The North London derby is probably the best derby in England considering the rivalry, atmosphere and tension between the two set of fans. These two teams produced some classic encounters in the past. Hope they do it again this weekend.

      

North London Rivalry: Police Escorting Tottenham Fans to the Emirates


Most of the hardcore fans know the reason behind the electrifying rivalry between the two clubs. If you’re a new follower, here is a short recap from the history to brief it for you.

September 1913 is when it all started. This is when Arsenal controversially moved from south of the River Thames into the territory (Highbury) reserved for Tottenham Hotspur by the football governing bodies in England. Despite bitter protests from spurs, Arsenal completed the move to Highbury. But this is not the main reason.

Most of the league actions were suspended during WW1. But it was after the end of WW1, the real war like rivalry began between Arsenal and Tottenham.

After the World war, FA decided to once again expand the First Division from 20 teams to 22. Normally it means no team will be relegated and the top two clubs from the Second Division are the ones who qualify automatically. So 19th-placed Chelsea who would otherwise have been relegated, were allowed to stay and thus they took the first of the two spots.

The second spot could have been awarded to 20th-placed Tottenham, or Barnsley, who had finished 3rd in the Second Division, From nowhere, Arsenal, who had finished sixth (later corrected to fifth) in the Second Division before the war were ‘elected’ to take Tottenham Hotspur’s place in the First Division. Allegations of bribery persist to this day and Henry Norris (Arsenal’s Chairman) was later given a lifetime ban from football from the Football League for underhand financial activities. From that day, Arsenal never got relegated from the first division and as they say rest of the rivalry is history.

Now back to the present as teams news and predictions for the weekend clash follows below.

North London Derby Preview

Team News:

Aaron Lennon, Jermain Defoe and Kyle Walker are all doubtful, while Moussa Dembele has been completely ruled out for Tottenham. For Arsenal, Tomas Rosicky, Abou Diaby, Kieran Gibbs and Gervinho are still out, while goalkeeper Wjociech Szczesny is expected to return at least to the bench. Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will face a late fitness test that will decide their participation.

Mind Games:

Wenger: “We are a long way off the leaders and that is why we want to come back. We have had that before and we want to make up the ground as quickly as possible, Win against Tottenham would be a real boost for us”

AVB: “The voice out from the fans means this is a game where the passion is extremely high and it’s a game that represents three points, but it really represents more in the history of north London derbies.”

Prediction:

There is just only one point and one place separates the two teams with seventh-placed Tottenham on 17 to Arsenal’s 16. Both the teams are struggling for consistency.

On Paper, Arsenal look a much better side than Tottenham with the likes of Cazorla, Wilshere, Podolski and others, but Tottenham will look to exploit Arsenal’s weak defense. A Win over rival would be a real boost for both the club for their league ambition.

Arsenal 3 Tottenham 1