London: The man on the gate broke into a wide smile. “Don’t tell anyone but I’m a big Arsenal fan,” he said, shaking my hand as the barrier lifted.
After such a warm welcome, this did not feel like enemy territory. Neither did it half an hour later when Mauricio Pochettino walked across for a good chat. My mission this week to have a sneaky peak behind enemy lines ahead of Sunday’s north London derby at the Emirates was quickly turning into a very friendly affair.
The Tottenham manager’s humility and humour made a big impression straight away. Nevertheless, the last few weeks have not gone as planned. Since beating Manchester City at the start of October, Spurs have failed to win any of their last six games, culminating in Wednesday night’s defeat to Bayer Leverkusen. As the goals have dried up, so must confidence have suffered.
In an ideal world you would want to be in slightly better shape going into the derby. As part of my plans for a glance behind the scenes, I popped back to hear Pochettino’s press conference. Once the usual team news inquiries were out of the way, particularly concerning Harry Kane (a 50/50 chance of starting after seven weeks out), the subject turned to comparisons with Arsenal in a broad sense.
“It is difficult to compare with a club that has been so consistent for 20 years,” Pochettino said, not unreasonably. “We want to be one of the biggest clubs in the world but we are still building.” Ah, yes, and not just the squad.
This was my first visit to Tottenham’s training ground, and although I had received glowing reports about how the club had set new standards to arguably create the finest training facility in Europe, it was still quite something to see the place for myself. The spotless grounds, the architect-designed buildings, the immaculate grass pitches, 15 in all.
If Arsenal’s training base is plush, this goes one step further. On top of that, a shiny new stadium will soon rise out of the ground right next to White Hart Lane. With a capacity of 61,000 (a thousand more than the Emirates), it will boast the largest single tier in the country, seating 17,000.
With that, inevitably, come financial implications. Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, had to cut his cloth accordingly in the transfer market for quite some time. Will Pochettino have to go the same way? “It is difficult to speak about this because our fans might take it in a negative way,” he said carefully.
“We know what can happen when you are investing a lot of money in a new stadium. “We are in a different situation to Arsenal, to Chelsea, to Manchester City or United. As a coach, it is a big responsibility. Our ambition is to fight these clubs. That can be frustrating but we have a very clear idea of what we are doing.”
You can certainly tell that. Last season offered more than enough evidence. Dodgy spell or not, this is the manager who turned Spurs into genuine title challengers, their hopes only dashed by a late loss of composure at Stamford Bridge. This is the man who has added real substance to a team that had fallen short so often in the past.
Say what you will (and plenty do) about Arsenal comically pipping them at the post to grab second spot last term, the gap between these rivals has rarely felt so narrow. For that, the dude in the dugout must take huge credit. As a result, Arsenal fans would be forgiven for getting a bit twitchy, even though the form of Wenger’s side could not be much better just now. Would those supporters be right to feel that way?
Gary Mabbutt, for one, thinks so. Tottenham’s second longest-serving player, captain for 11 years, believes that the long-standing divide is now being bridged. “Both on and off the field, I can’t remember a time when the club has been in such a great position,” he told me this week.
“Apart from the training ground and stadium, we’ve now got a team that, for me, has immense potential. “Looking at what’s happening here, seeing what’s being built, I think yes, Arsenal fans should be worried. They’ll admit, if they’re honest, that they didn’t deserve to come second last year. Did they actually push Leicester all the way? No, it was Tottenham that pushed them. We dropped off after the Chelsea game but, up until then, we were the main challengers.”
Difficult to argue with that. On the flip side, however, Arsenal have just reached the knockout stages of the Champions League for the 17th time on the trot. Spurs, meanwhile, might not even qualify after making heavy weather of their group, especially at Wembley.
Whatever way you look at it, that is some going on Arsenal’s part. It is that know-how and history, that ability to juggle Europe with domestic duties, that still sets the Gunners apart from their old foes. It was not much different during my time at Arsenal when we usually came out on top in these feisty fixtures. Not in 1991, though. Not in the FA Cup semi-final in which a Paul Gascoigne-inspired Spurs trounced us 3-1.
“Gazza was obviously on top form and that free-kick was incredible. If you remember, you were marking me and I ducked as the ball flew over my head.”
As for tomorrow, Mabbutt thinks it will be a bit tighter. “You can never say for sure what will happen in these games but I am fairly certain that we won’t give much away. I think, with the players we’ve got, we can nullify Arsenal around our penalty area.”
- The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2016
