112 years of HATRED at the North London derby
Sol Campbell and George Graham, Harry Kane and Thierry Henry ... but it all began when Arsenal moved into Tottenham's neighborhood.
In 1922, Arsenal manager Leslie Knighton, captain Bill Blyth, and goalkeeper Steve Dunn were hauled before a Football Association commission. They arrived for the hearing in three-piece suits and fedoras. Tottenham Hotspur’s Jimmy Seed, Bert Bliss and Alex Lindsay were there, too, clad in their trenches and top coats.
They were summoned following a “vicious and bitter” match between the two sides that featured a punch, a brawl, and a series of violent fouls. Multiple Tottenham players went off injured, and a Spurs goal was (by some accounts) ruled out for offside then ruled back in as the crowd at White Hart Lane bayed in fury. According to one (perhaps apocryphal) report, Dunn grabbed hold of the referee and shook him after the Spurs goal was allowed, behaving “like a man demented.” One newspaper reporter described it as “the most disgusting scenes” he’d ever witnessed.
It was a landmark exhibition of the tribal hatred that had swelled between the two factions following Arsenal’s move across the River Thames to Tottenham’s North London neighborhood in 1913. Spurs clocked their new neighbors as a threat immediately, but the ugliness really blossomed when, after the Football League was suspended for World War I, Arsenal politicked a vote amongst the league’s shot-callers in 1919 and got themselves into the re-forming First Division at Tottenham’s expense. Accusations have flown for a century and more that Sir Henry Norris, the well-connected construction magnate who took Woolwich Arsenal across the river to become kings of London, went above and beyond to influence the vote.
That vicious bitterness has hardly faded in the 103 years since that match at the Lane. Anyone who dared cross the divide, be it George Graham or Sol Campbell, was branded Judas Iscariot. For most of that century, Arsenal were the superior side, the 13-times champions of England. Tottenham have been waiting for their third English league title since 1961, but there was a period — those halcyon days under Mauricio Pochettino — when they took control of North London and even got to a Champions League final. More importantly, they finished above Arsenal six seasons in a row.
Those days are long gone now, deep in the rearview behind the managerial reigns of José Mourinho and Nuno Espírito Santo and Antonio Conte and Ange Postecoglou. Those tenures all ended in rancor and disappointment — even Big Ange with his unlikely Europa League triumph on his way out the door.
It’s Arsenal who’ve risen again in recent years, competing at the top end of the English and European game.1 They’ve taken more points in the league than Tottenham every season since 2022. Gooners celebrate the annual moment that Spurs mathematically can’t catch them as “St. Totteringham’s Day,” and it’s been helpful to that pursuit that Mikel Arteta’s side have dominated these head-to-head encounters. Tottenham have won just one of nine derbies since 2021, and Arsenal have taken seven of those. Spurs have not tasted victory away in league play at the Emirates Stadium, where this edition will go down, since November 2010.
But that Emirates pitch was also the stage for Arsenal tragedy this past week — and during an international break. Brazil like to take their Harlem Globetrotters show on the road once they’ve wrapped up qualifying for a World Cup, and the Seleção were in North London on Saturday for a friendly with Senegal. Gabriel, the towering Arsenal center half, is finally a regular for his nation under newish manager Carlo Ancelotti, but he came up lame in the 65th minute and could be out for as much as two months with an upper leg injury.
He was man of the match in the last two North London derby encounters, but he’ll miss this one. It’s a brutal blow for an Arsenal team that have weathered a wild injury list through this first third of the season to stay top of the league. Martin Ødegaard, Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Viktor Gyökeres: they’ve all missed time, but none are as important to Arteta’s Arsenal as Gabriel. He’s a dominant presence in both boxes — his goal threat is part of what earned him those man-of-the-match awards in the last two NLDs — and possibly the best defender in England. He might be the best in Europe.2
Tottenham manager Thomas Frank will relish the opportunity to attack an Arsenal team that’s without him. The Dane’s Brentford sides always leaned into direct play and the physical side of the game, and he’s brought a pragmatism to Spurs that constitutes a radical departure from Postecoglou’s pie-in-the-sky philosophical doctrine. The Australian had a bit of the Arsène Wenger in his absolute commitment to His Way, of playing-like-we-play-no-matter-who-we’re-playing, but Frank will be working ‘round-the-clock this week to tailor Tottenham’s approach to their opponents here. Like his counterpart on the touchline this weekend, Frank’s philosophy is to accumulate points.
Maybe this North London derby will end up a long-throw-in-off, a set-piece spectacular that will have few neutrals yelling, “Spectacular!” That’s certainly been the rote criticism of Arsenal and the Premier League more generally this season. These are never free-flowing encounters throughout — there’s too much on the line, too much fear and anxiety flowing down the stands onto the pitch, a palpable sense that death would be preferable to defeat. At least then you wouldn’t have to face that guy at the office on Monday morning.
That local thing is why I’ve said before I’ll probably never hate Tottenham like true North London Arsenal fans hate Tottenham. I hate Chelsea and Manchester United just as much or more for the pain they dealt me in the late 2000s, when I was coming of age as a fan. But I know how important this match is to my fellow travelers, and to be fair, I still despise the fucking Spurs.
I was there for the Poch years, for Emmanuel Adebayor’s antics, for David Bentley and Danny Rose and Harry Kane. I’ve lived the scuffles and shoving matches and the disastrous defeats, cheered with a full voice when we’ve put them down on their turf and on ours. I’ve never seen anything quite like what’s in those news reports from 1922, but that’s why we watch, isn’t it?
Arsenal need to win every match with Manchester City lurking a few points behind them, Tottenham need to win any match against Arsenal, and Spurs can even vault themselves into the vicinity of the title race if they can strike a decisive blow here. It might be scrappy, it might be physical, it might never find a flow or a fine finesse, it might turn on an own goal or a corner. But it’s not to be missed.
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A few more matches worth your time this weekend…
BURNLEY vs CHELSEA
Sat @ 7:30am ET, 12:30pm UK
This one just feels like the kind of match that this Chelsea team will lose if they’re unserious about competing at the top of the table. They dropped plenty of games like these in the second half of last season, and Enzo Maresca will be desperate to register three points ahead of heavyweight bouts with FC Barcelona and Arsenal in the space of a week.
BARCELONA vs ATHLETIC CLUB
Sat @ 10:15am ET, 3:15pm UK
Here’s one out of the loftier precincts of La Liga, though Athletic Club have sunk to seventh after defeats to Getafe and (crucially) their Basque rivals Real Sociedad. Athletic followed that up with a slender 1-0 victory over lowly Real Oviedo, rooted to the bottom of the table, but these are not boom times for the Lions. The last thing they need is a trip to FC Barcelona, much less a trip to the brand new Camp Nou.
Yes, after more than 900 days, the Blaugrana will return to their legendary home for the first time following a typically chaotic renovation that’s still not finished. Can Barça re-inaugurate the place in style and keep pace with Real Madrid at the top of the table?
If you’re more Premier League-minded, there’s a slew of fixtures kicking off 15 minutes earlier on Saturday morning. Personally, I’d go for BRIGHTON vs BRENTFORD, a battle of two English middle-class strivers. But SUNDERLAND should get a good test heading to Craven Cottage to face FULHAM, and LIVERPOOL need to right the ship — so what better than a home match at Anfield against Ange Postecoglou’s NOTTINGHAM FOREST?
NEWCASTLE vs MAN CITY
Sat @ 12:30pm ET, 5:30pm UK
Manchester City bludgeoned Liverpool heading into the international break and sent the defending champions spinning out of the title race, at least for now. Pep Guardiola’s side have now placed themselves firmly in contention — and in a position the Catalan managerial maestro loves to occupy: Lurking in Arsenal’s rearview mirror.
The Citizens are getting results and playing better stuff than they have in some time, though they still lack that machine ruthlessness of two seasons ago. Rodri is still to return, which could be the key, but so will be fixtures like this. Nobody likes a trip to St. James’ Park, even when Newcastle are mired in 14th having dropped three of their last four games in the league. Eddie Howe will have a plan, but can he truly match wits with Guardiola here?
LEEDS UNITED vs ASTON VILLA
Sun @ 9am ET, 2pm UK
There’s nothing on paper that would make this a classic match. It’s 16th in the Premier League hosting sixth. Leeds are in poor form, losing four of their last five, while Villa have rattled off five wins in their last six league matches. But at Elland Road, in front of one of England’s great noisy crowds, I just have a feeling about this one.
ARSENAL vs TOTTENHAM
Sun @ 11:30am ET, 4:30pm UK
Get the full preview above for (perhaps) England’s greatest derby match.
INTER MILAN vs AC MILAN
Sun @ 2:45pm ET, 7:45pm UK
What a weekend for rivalry football, and this one doubles as a top-of-the-table bout in Serie A.
It was only a few years ago, in 2021-22, that AC Milan were champions of Italy. But the time since has been spent in the relative wilderness. Now they’re so back, thanks in no small part to stellar play from Christian Pulisic, who returned from injury just before the international break and could be fit enough to start here. The Rossoneri may or may not be playing inspiring football under Max Allegri, but they’re two points off the top of the league and unbeaten in their last 11 matches.
Two points above them? Internazionale, who’ve bounced back far more bouncily than expected after a heartbreaking 2024-25 campaign. They were inches away from a treble and ended up with nothing, prompting the departure of hugely successful manager Simone Inzaghi and a new era under the largely inexperienced Cristian Chivu. The 45-year-old Romanian won the treble with Inter as a player, though, and he has them cooking. They’re grinding out the results in both Serie A and the Champions League.
The problems have popped up in the big matches, aside from a 1-0 away win over high-flying Roma: Inter fell 3-1 to title rivals Napoli at the end of October and 4-3 to Juventus in the Derby d’Italia the month before. Can they erase all that in the Derby della Madonnina?
Arsenal will face Tottenham, Bayern Munich, and Chelsea within eight days.
How many better players are there in the Top Five leagues — at any position?