Passions seldom run higher than when Arsenal face-off against Tottenham but the Gunners have to find a way to win the mental battle if they’re to do themselves justice on Sunday.
So often in recent years, Arsenal and Spurs have traded wins during the course of the season, with neither side truly able to claim the upper hand away from home.
We all know the part that home advantage has played in that outcome but, in Arsenal’s case, they have beaten themselves on the road by allowing the occasion to get the better of them. Take last season, for example.
The Gunners held a narrow advantage over their fierce rivals in the battle for a top four place and were under no pressure to make the running at White Hart Lane. A draw would have suited them down to the ground.
In the event, though, they got sucked into a fractious battle and it quickly got the better of them. Cedric Soares conceded a silly penalty (albeit a controversial one) while Rob Holding allowed emotions to overwhelm sense and saw red. By the end of the first half, the game was already dead and it’s not the first time that has happened to us on the road in the derbies of the last half-dozen years.
In fact, the referees are positively itching to give out penalties in these fixtures and it happens with such frightening regularity that it almost seems suspicious. Red cards, too, have become a curiously reoccurring feature.
The last time we won in the league at the Lane, if I’m not mistaken, was in 2014 when an early goal from Tomas Rosicky settled matters. Since then, the best we’ve been able to muster has been a draw. Just as concerning have been the amount of red cards and penalties we have collected on our trip up the Seven Sisters Road.
In just the away fixture, there have been three red cards for Arsenal and three penalties given against us since 2014. Even at the Emirates, we have seen four penalties given against us in that time. It’s a truly anomalous statistic that borders on the farcical but it does reveal just how whistle-happy the referees can be and how vital it is to keep a cool head in a fervent atmosphere that affects even the referee.
In fact, keeping our wits about us may be the difference between victory and defeat.
The first goal in the derby almost always portends the result so a silly challenge that gives Harry Kane a chance from 12 yards is suicidal. If we want to snap a pretty lamentable run on the road in this fixture, staying switched on for 90 minutes will be essential.
For the first time in a long time, we are in better form than the hosts, we have the better squad and the better prospects. Spurs, meanwhile, are in disarray. Their squad is ageing and poorly-balanced, their manager is going bonkers and they are struggling to find real consistency in the league.
For so long, we have been the struggling side going into the derby so it feels exciting to be the side going into a derby with hopes and expectations high. But we must give ourselves a chance to deliver on it.
I know that form often goes out of the window in the derby and players in poor form often raise their game but there is something about this Arsenal side that has me feeling more hopeful than I have in years. They are a supremely talented and special group and, if they can get their game going, are a match for any side in the world.
No fresh injury concerns from Monday night’s trip to Oxford mean we head into this match in good shape and with almost everybody fit and firing. The only real concern is the depth of our options from the bench. If we are chasing the game, there won’t be much available to us to really shake things up, although the return of Emile Smith Rowe gives us a little something to work with should the need arise.
For the most part, therefore, we are going to have to rely on our first XI and we are going to have to rely on them being able to stay in control. The occasion can and has so often got the better of us in recent years but this time, it has to be different.
With Manchester City facing off against Manchester United today (Saturday), we could find ourselves with a huge opportunity to put more points between us and both sides, as well as opening an even bigger gap between ourselves and Spurs.
Discipline will, I think, win the day on Sunday. Lose our cool again and there will only be one winner. However, if we can temper our worst impulses and not allow the referee the chance to make poor decisions, we are in a better place to get a result than we have been arguably since 2014. It’s time to seize our chance.
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