Hallowed turf gave rivals lift

WHEN Arsenal played Champions League games at the old Wembley, every opponent raised their game against us.

We faced Fiorentina in 1999 and i remember looking across the tunnel at gabriel Batistuta, who wore a beaming smile on his face.

He was so fired up to be playing at Wembley — you could see just how excited he was as he was talking to his team-mates.

Batistuta scored the only goal of the game after he and i had contested a no-holds-barred battle.

Some months later we bumped into each other at an England game and even then he was still talking about what a great occasion it had been.

You want your ground to be a horrible place for the opposition, not somewhere they are looking forward to playing!

This season, Tottenham need to make sure Wembley is not an enjoyable experience for their rivals. They must turn the stadium into the fortress White Hart Lane was last season.

Teams found Spurs’ high- pressing game impossible to deal with on the tight White Hart Lane pitch and it was the same for us at Highbury. We made the pitch as small as possible when our opponents were in possession. We pressed them quickly, gave them little space to manoeuvre and punished them early. That defeat by Fiorentina saw us drop from the Champions League into the UEFA Cup. Playing back at Highury we went on to reach the final but i was dismayed that we had given away our single biggest advantage in the Champions League. The move worked against us. none of the facilities at the old stadium had been updated and water leaked down the steps leading from the showers.

Tottenham cannot make any excuses for their new surroundings. Let’s not forget, their new ground will be more like Wembley than White Hart Lane.

They have to use this transition period wisely so that when they return home next year they will hit the ground running.

Tottenham must recreate their pressing game on a bigger scale. in possession, they need to pass the ball and make the pitch feel as big as possible. The atmosphere at Wembley can go flat but the Tottenham fans must carry their team by creating a cauldron of noise.

if Tottenham beat Chelsea tomorrow, Wembley becomes a happy home. Antonio Conte has not had too much joy at Wembley, suffering defeat by Arsenal on his last two visits. He is without Diego Costa, Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas, the three men who turned the tables on Tottenham from the bench in last season’s FA Cup semi-final.

Tottenham must strike while Chelsea are weak. They will never have a better chance to end their Wembley hoodoo.