St Totteringham’s Day is over – and the joke is on you, Arsene

rsène Wenger pulled one of his knowing smiles in May last year when a reporter pointed out that Tottenham had seemed likely to finish higher than Arsenal in the title race. “It looked many years like that,” Wenger grinned. The drinks flowed in Highbury and Islington for the 21st consecutive St Totteringham’s Day.

Readers unfamiliar with that ‘movable feast’ will need to be told that St Totteringham’s Day is an annual Arsenal celebration, held on the day that Spurs finishing higher than their north London enemy becomes a mathematical impossibility. It has been an Arsenal fiesta since 1994-95. But it will not be happening this spring. Arsenal are a best-priced 8-1 to finish in the top four, while Tottenham are 1-100. The gap between the teams is 14 points. By the time they meet on April 30, Spurs fans may have come up with their equivalent of St Totteringham’s. St Arse’s Day, or some such.

Comparing the sides is an annual fixation, sometimes pointless, often misleading. Yet there is no ignoring the turnaround. Spurs are now the ones shouting: “Mind the gap.”

Arsenal travel to Middlesbrough on Monday, a week after a 3-0 defeat at Crystal Palace so unbearable that Sir Chips Keswick, the chairman, reportedly walked out nearly half an hour before the end. Later that night, Theo Walcott offered the startling admission that Palace had “wanted it more” than the Gunners. Meanwhile, Wenger’s terrible tease continues. A deal seems to have been cooked up to allow him to stay against a backdrop of “sweeping change”, principally to recruitment.

Boy, do they need it. While Spurs strengthen their grip on the PFA Young Player of the Year Award (winning four of the last five, with Kyle Walker, Gareth Bale, Harry Kane and Dele Alli, who will surely win again this time), the Arsenal squad regress. Lucas Pérez, Mohamed Elneny and Granit Xhaka (who manages to be both indisciplined and innocuous) are among recent signings who have added little to the mix.

Wenger’s stubbornness aside, ill-judged or passive transfer trading over several seasons has finally caught up with a club where the manager refuses to share power and influence.

Asked whether he was aware of speculation around Marc Overmars joining as director of football, Wenger said: “No. I like Marc Overmars. It is always difficult. We spend a lot of time in our society focusing on things that are superficial.” Note the hostile edge. Delegation is anathema to Wenger. And there is nothing “superficial” about the need to radically transform Arsenal’s player acquisition system.

Up the north London road, the cranes are lifting into place a new stadium that will be a match for the Emirates. Tottenham’s training ground and academy are already superior to London Colney, which was once state of the art.

In the dugouts, Arsenal are steered by a manager who plays games with the media and fans over his contract extension while watching his most sacred ideas run aground. Spurs are marshalled by a younger coach who has restored the primacy of English talent, is admired by Real Madrid and Barcelona and is tactically flexible and ultraprepared for games. The result is that Spurs can cut Chelsea’s lead to four points by beating Bournemouth in the Saturday lunchtime kick-off, and extend their winning run to seven. They need one more point to record their best ever season at White Hart Lane, with a team whose average age is 25 years and 266 days. The one flaw in Tottenham’s claim to be the coming team of English football is their six wins from 15 away games. They have lost at Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United, and drawn at Manchester City, Arsenal and Everton.

But while Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez weigh their options, Alli, Eric Dier, Kane, Danny Rose, Walker, Christian Eriksen and Toby Alderweireld all seem settled, with Winks pushing through. There is a level of team management, squad building and player spirit that Arsenal cannot match, though they are stronger historically.

Mind the gap, indeed. Beyond the local rivalry, Arsenal have four other higher-placed teams to catch up with. As things stand, the usual end-of-season flourish looks beyond them.