Tottenham Hotspur Fan View: Bring on the Gunners

A plague of injuries on both your houses

As mentioned in an earlier edition, Spurs’ numbers are looking a little thin heading into Saturday’s North London derby with Arsenal. And, while several of those in the Minor Injuries Guild hope to be on short-term memberships—Dele Alli, Harry Kane and Harry Winks could all shake off their various ailments in time—it’s quite alarming to have eight first-teamers on the sidelines.

Oh look at that. Just as I was about to descend into my own negative spiral, as André Villas-Boas might say, word from the club’s official Twitter feed:

For Arsenal, their main concern is Olivier Giroud, who twanged a thigh muscle against Wales last week, after he’d put Les Bleus 2-0 up in Paris.

Not that it’s particularly good news for Spurs. With Giroud out, Arsène Wenger might be forced to wheel out the £50m international striker that’s been collecting dust on the bench and let him see some action. I know which Gallic frontman I’d rather face and it’s not the bearded Scorpion-kicker.

Power shift

You won’t be shocked to learn that there’s been more talk of power shifts in the capital this week. It’s become the principal narrative for this fixtures for the last decade; ever since Martin Jol began the transformation of Tottenham in the mid 2000s. From a practical joke of a club to a mildly competitive one.

Now, under Mauricio Pochettino, having recently finished above the old enemy for the first time since 1995, the strange concept of Tottenham having the upper hand has become a convincing argument. Arsenal haven’t beaten their North London rivals in the League since March 2014. By comparison, in the good old days, Wenger managed to go from November 1999 to January 2008 without losing once to Spurs in ANY competition.

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Parlour talk

Ray Parlour certainly thinks Tottenham are ahead of their city neighbors, using the simple formula of who finished higher in the previous campaign:

‘Tottenham came above Arsenal last season so they are better – simple.’

‘It does hurt, I must admit.’

Me, perhaps I’m a little more traditional in that I’d like to see some actual silverware before we start lording ourselves as Kings of North London.

There’s no doubt Spurs have the advantage in terms of players, a coherent modern playing style and a manager whose ingrained philosophy doesn’t appear to be damaging the club. And yet still. Our trophy count remains at a lousy two in twenty-five years. Arsenal, with all their dysfunction and unrest amongst players and supporters, have won three in the last four seasons.

We’re on the right path and a victory at the Emirates this weekend would add fuel to the idea of us being top dogs, but let’s save the celebrations until we’ve put a trophy in the cabinet. Deal?