Santi Cazorla shows true colours as Tomas Rosicky fires Arsenal North London Derby message
Santi Cazorla has shown his true colours ahead of this weekend's North London Derby. Arsenal will lock horns with Tottenham Hotspur in N17 on Sunday afternoon as Mikel Arteta looks to build upon his brilliant record in the marquee fixture.
The Gunners boss has faced Spurs eight times since replacing Unai Emery in the dugout, winning five, losing two and drawing once. In fact, since May 2022, when Arteta last suffered defeat in the North London Derby, Arsenal have enjoyed a four-game unbeaten streak against the Lilywhites.
The Spaniard's side did the double over Tottenham during the 2022/23 season before settling for four points the following campaign. Eager to see Arteta extend his run this term, Tomas Rosicky fired Arsenal a message on Instagram ahead of the heavyweight bout.
The Gunners cult hero posted a selection of pictures from his time at the Emirates Stadium, including an embrace with Cazorla and FA Cup celebrations with Olivier Giroud. Captioning his post, Rosicky wrote: "Memories… COYG … NLD…"
The former Arsenal midfielder's post chalked up over 30,000 likes, while hundreds of supporters flocked to the comment section to show their support – one of which was from Cazorla, who sent Rosicky a heartwarming message. The Spaniard wrote: "Little Mozart i miss you my friend [two red heart emojis]."
Speaking to reporters ahead of the North London Derby, Arteta was quizzed on his best memories of the fixture. He said: "Probably afterwards, especially when you win at home and you celebrate with your supporters and you know how much it means.
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"It’s something special and we have so many huge Arsenal supporters since the day that they were born and looking at our staff, we have some good examples around the first team as well. They come in after the game and you can see the emotion and what it means for them. It’s a privilege to have the power to contribute to making someone really happy."
Then, on how he plans to manage a congested fixture schedule, Arteta added: "Day by day. If we look at where we’re going to be at the end of May, tomorrow’s game that we have to play and the level and the challenges ahead, we cannot think like this.
"We’re going to run out of oxygen. I want to have the energy, the enthusiasm for the next day, the next game and prepare that in the best possible way and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to go to Spurs with unbelievable energy and believe that we’re going to go there to be ourselves and try to win the game.