North London Derby and 4th spot.

[Dom38]

Spurs v Arsenal is now one of the great rivalries in World Football

Stopped reading there, tbh.

You should give it a read, it's rather good.

Also, hoping Spuds beat Arsenal because I fucking hate them. I'm less hopeful about 'Arry not rolling over and taking one from Slurgy.

 

[Latics Fan SJK]

Arsenal 1-4 Spurs (Seriously)

RVP - Bale (2), Adebayor (1), Lennon

I think Spurs' pace could humiliate Arsenal.

 

[lee-mcfc]

3-1 spurs please

 

[Crouchinho]

Arsenal-Tottenham derby 'the most crucial' in Arsene Wenger's reign

On the face of it, there is no reason why Tottenham's trip to Arsenal on Sunday should carry more significance than previous north London derbies.

Two fierce local rivals, three keenly contested Premier League points and one much-coveted set of bragging rights - so far, so familiar.

But scratch beneath the surface and an entirely different picture emerges.

"This is the most important derby in Arsene Wenger's 16 years as Arsenal manager," former Gunners right-back Lee Dixon tells BBC Sport.

"It comes at a very poignant time in the club's history."

Out of contention for every domestic trophy and facing likely Champions League elimination, Arsenal are staring at a seventh consecutive trophy-less season.

Defeat by Tottenham, who have never finished above their neighbours during Wenger's tenure, would leave the Gunners 13 points behind third-placed Spurs in the Premier League with 12 games remaining.

Unless Arsenal then won a probable four-way scrap with Chelsea, Newcastle and Liverpool for fourth place, their 15-year run in the Champions League would be over.

"If they don't get Champions League football next season it's going to be a nightmare," says ex-Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Petit.

"To get back to where they were, Arsenal need to sign big players in the summer and you can't do that if you don't play Champions League."

Following devastating defeats by Sunderland and AC Milan in their last two matches, Arsenal will be desperate to reignite their season against Spurs.

It is a league fixture that Wenger lost only once in his first 14 years at the club, but all evidence suggests the tide is turning.

Arsenal have won just one of their last seven top-flight meetings and go into the game below Tottenham in the table for only the fourth time in Wenger's 32 derbies.

"Spurs are a better team than Arsenal," Petit admits, while Dixon adds: "There has definitely been a gradual shift of power over the last few seasons."

Football analyst and author Alex Fynn wrote a book in 2000 entitled The Great Divide, which sought to explain Arsenal's dominance over Tottenham.

"Certainly there is no great divide now," says Fynn. "If anything, it may be role reversal."

This has not gone down well with the crowd at Emirates Stadium, where rumblings of discontent have been audible for some time.

Tim Payton, spokesman for the Arsenal Supporters Trust (AST), describes it a "a culture shock, a wake-up call for Arsenal fans who have been used to enjoying St Totteringham's Day".

That is the name Arsenal followers jokingly give to the date each season when Spurs cannot mathematically finish above Arsenal.

Unfortunately for them, that holiday looks like it will not be celebrated in 2012 and many of those fans are questioning how it has come to this.

Wenger lifted seven trophies in his first nine years at Arsenal, but now looks set to endure the longest barren spell of any manager in the club's history.

"Wenger needed a challenge from his backroom staff and the board," Fynn argues. "This is the most significant problem he has failed to deal with.

"The other major clubs have arguably had better backroom staff and refreshed them on several occasions. Just look at Manchester United.

"Wenger has never had this and, as other clubs have moved on, Arsenal have stood still and maybe even gone backwards.

"Why has he not surrounded himself with men of quality? What on earth is [retired former Arsenal captain] Patrick Vieira doing at Manchester City?"

Fynn also blames the 2007 departure of chief executive David Dein, who remains Wenger's best friend, for Arsenal slipping behind their rivals in the transfer market.

This is one of many areas in which Tottenham have excelled since chairman Daniel Levy appointed Harry Redknapp as manager in 2008.

"Spurs were branded a team without ambition for almost a decade," Petit explains. "But in the last two years they have signed so many good players and big characters that this team seems far more competitive than Arsenal.

"All of a sudden the politics changed and they started to spend a lot of money. Big wages, bringing in many international players with big experience, big characters - mixing the likes of Rafael van der Vaart and Emmanuel Adebayor with very good players already in the team like Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon, Jermain Defoe.

"Now the quality is there and they have the mentality too. It will be very interesting to see how Arsenal react to this, especially at home. It's a massive test after what's happened during the last week."

Dixon adds: "Going into a north London derby, as fans you'll read lots of stuff. As players you put that all out of the way, you forget it, because it is ultimately about what happens on the day.

"The thing to pay more attention to is recent results and Arsenal's form is poor.

"That in itself is demoralising. But when I was at the club, if we ever had a bad series of results the next game you want to be a big one because it gets your mind focused on what's coming rather than feeling sorry for yourself.

"And there's no bigger one than the north London derby at this stage of the season with so much at stake. So roll your sleeves up and get stuck in."

The AST estimates that missing out on the Champions League could cost Arsenal £45m and that is why Payton thinks Sunday is "much more than a north London derby".

Victory would bring fresh hope but, for Arsenal and Wenger, defeat does not bear thinking about.

"That would be the third body shot in quick succession," says Fynn. "It may be the knockout blow."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17132737

When Arsenal got Wenger, Sugar went and got someone like Gross. Sugar thought he had pulled a masterstroke somehow.

It was just annoying Arsenal were getting the likes of Bergkamp and we were signing Chris Armstrong. They got Vieria for 500k and we had Freund for around 1m, although great for Spurs he wasn't in the same bracket as a Viera. It was just silly things like that we had no chance of getting close to them.

Sugar was fantastic for Spurs in someways, he knew which way football was heading, but as a football man he wasn't clued up enough, even though he is a fan of the club.

Levy got us going in the right direction, even though he made some howlers along the way. It's all coming together nicely. Arsenal opened a can of worms with their wage policy, something which Liverpool and United held the monopoly for many years. Now average players demand as much as the top players.

It's amusing to me that the likes of Downing, Fletcher, Adam, Mertesacker and Henderson etc are on almost double the wage of Bale and Van Der Vaart and they won't ever get out of that situation because of the big 3 dominance for years.

I think it will go down as a classic season to look back on if Spurs and City finally get above their neighbours, when a few seasons back it looked like it could go on another 20 years.

I know there is a huge dislike of Everton on this board, but I'd really enjoy it if they done the same to Liverpool too on a regular basis. They have been victims of arrogance from their neighbours too. Comparing their reserves to the first team of Everton, United doing a stupid year counter of City's last medal, and Arsenal celebrating St Totteringhams and rubbing it our faces

 

[The Fat el Hombre]

Arsenal are there for the taking, spurs fans must be looking forward to putting them to the sword. Spurs are a very good team and I'd fancy them for this, but although they slaughtered newcastle I thought they were wank against liverpool and the stevenage result speaks for itself, so maybe arsenal will get a result against them? I think spurs will tail off in the coming weeks with tough fixtures coming up (rags, everton away, chelsea away, sunderland away) but hopefully they can do the rags cos we could really do with them getting something out of that and there's no reason why they shouldn't.

As for top four, I'm, not sure if liverpool are my favourites now. Chelsea are all over the shop and arsenal aren't much cop. Even though liverpool blew so much money on asbolute shite they might just be incredibly lucky that both chelsea and arsenal have decided to play silly buggers this season

 

[Speaker]

People have been waiting a long time for Spurs to "slip up", and I think they'll have to wait a while longer. Everyone keeps saying that we are going to crumble in these games. They said it when the fixture list was liverpool , newcastle, arsenal, utd, everton, chelsea. Well we've already got 4 points from the first two, and now we have four tough games and then a relatively easy run in. It's almost as if everyone expects us to lose every "tough" game that we have. I'm not saying we will win them all, but we will grab some points here and there.

As for the derby.... On paper we should win, on current form we should win. However, it's the NLD, form goes out of the window. It will be a tough game, i'm hoping for a win, but i'm expecting a draw. 2-2 van persie, gervinho, vdv, bale

 

[Ric]

I think Spurs will turn them over fairly comfortably.

 

[Blue_Moon]

going off the first 20 minutes, I wish we were playing them next week....
giving away possession as soon as they gain it when under no pressure, and their disorganisation at the back is just begging for silva/aguero/yaya to cut them apart

 

[Ricster]

Bale should get a ban for that. Fucking digraceful cheat!

 

[Skashion]

Barely ever want Spurs to win but don't mind today. Want them to think they're still in the title race when they're playing the rags.