Spurs are thinking bigger than topping rivals
Tottenham win Sunday will put club ahead of Arsenal for first time in decades
LONDON— For 22 years, there has been one certainty in the Premier League: Arsenal finishing above Tottenham.
Arsenal fans have even coined a term to celebrate the point in the season when their team cannot be overtaken in the standings by Tottenham: St. Totteringham’s Day.
Even when Tottenham entered the final day of last season in second place behind Leicester, a loss to already relegated Newcastle still allowed Arsenal to overhaul its north London neighbour.
That looks like it’s about to change, and it could come as soon as Sunday. If Tottenham wins the derby, there will be no St. Totteringham’s Day celebrations this year.
The constant in Arsene Wenger’s 21-year reign will have been eradicated, and Tottenham will have secured its first finish above Arsenal since 1995.
“It’s not a motivation and it’s not a distraction,” Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said. “We know what that game means but we are not thinking about being above Arsenal.” Yet. Unlike Arsenal, for once Tottenham has greater ambitions: A first league title since 1961. It relies on Chelsea dropping points and Tottenham extending its first eight-game winning run in the league since its last title-winning season. With five games remaining, Chelsea is four points in front.
“Our challenge now is to reduce the gap again with Chelsea and to think bigger things than only to be above Arsenal,” Pochettino said. “One day to achieve big trophies, your mentality must be bigger, thinking about big dreams.”
Like Arsenal, perhaps, which has won the league six times since Tottenham’s last success. Now, though, the Gunners are in a scrap to make the top four and qualify for the Champions League after sinking to sixth place, 14 points behind secondplace Tottenham.
The three derbies since Tottenham’s February 2015 success have been draws, but now Pochettino’s team looks to be the one more capa- ble of killing off games — unlike so often in the history of the rivalry.
Dele Alli, whose dynamism and scent for goals has already guaranteed Tottenham’s biggest point haul in the Premier League era, wasn’t even born the last time Arsenal finished behind his team.
Wenger’s 50th north London derby comes at a time of uncertainty and change.
Wenger’s contract expires at the end of the season, with no announcement yet about his future, and Tottenham is preparing to leave White Hart Lane for a new stadium on the same site.
It’ll have a 61,000-capacity — 1,000 more seats than Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. But Tottenham hopes for more than symbolic victories over their neighbours in future.