Arsenal are still a bigger club than Tottenham, claims Jamie Carragher

Arsenal are still a long way ahead of Tottenham Hotspur, claims Jamie Carragher, who also blasted the performance of Dele Alli in Saturday’s north London derby.

The Gunners beat Spurs in a dominant 2-0 display at the Emirates to close the gap between the two sides to just a point, despite the perceived vast differences to their respective starts to the season.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side finished above Arsenal for the first time in Arsene Wenger’s career last season, seemingly confirming the shift in power in north London, but Carragher disagrees that Spurs are now the bigger club.

“Tottenham just have the edge and will finish above Arsenal this season, but a power shift, no,” Carragher said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.

“It has to be five or six seasons where you finish above your rival. I think a big foreign player would choose Arsenal.

“Until we start treating Tottenham like we treat Arsenal, the Manchester clubs and Liverpool, that's when you think they have overtaken them.”

Alli also came in for some criticism from the former Liverpool defender after he was hauled off with 15 minutes remaining and Spurs chasing the game.

And Carragher believes he should have received more criticism than he did and said the reaction would have been a lot worse had it been Mesut Ozil who had played that poorly.

“If Mesut Ozil performed the way Dele Alli did in that game, we would be slaughtering Ozil,” Carragher added.

“We still think of Spurs as a young team, there is no bigger fan of Spurs than me, love the way they play, the manager, the players, but we still don't treat them the way we do the other big players.

“You look at the Spurs players and think, come on, you have got to step up, now is the time.”