Arsenal star Kai Havertz proclaimed on Sunday that he’s going to be ‘the biggest fan of Tottenham‘ when they play next.
No, he hasn’t lost his marbles. Quite the opposite, in fact. And like Havertz, every Arsenal fan will be following his lead.
This is because Spurs face the Gunners’ title rivals Man City on Tuesday in a game that will decide who wins the Premier League title come next Sunday.
Arsenal are currently two points ahead of City in the table – having played a game more – but with one game left to play, their chances of winning their first Premier League title in 20 years now all hinges on their arch-rivals Tottenham.
Should City beat Tottenham in north London, it will send the title race down to the final day and will require Pep Guardiola‘s side to just match whatever Arsenal do to win a record fourth English top-flight league title on the bounce – a feat that’s never been achieved before.
Tottenham host Man City in a huge clash on Tuesday that could decide the title race
Pep Guardiola (left) and his Man City team have notoriously struggled away at Spurs
A Spurs win vs City would put Arsenal as favourites for the title on the final day of the season
Arsenal currently lead Man City by a point but the reigning champions have a game in hand
With City’s current form and notorious ability to churn out wins in the business end of the season, all signs point to a comprehensive victory for the reigning champions, especially when you consider that Spurs haven’t been at their best in recent weeks.
But if history is to go by, Spurs taking points off City could very much be on the cards.
Here, Mail Sport looks at why Arsenal fans should have hope that their fierce rivals could do them one of the biggest favours in their history.
City’s toothless league record in N17
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium hasn’t quite been the fortress Ange Postecoglou wanted it to be in his first season as manager of the club.
Spurs have lost five of their 18 games at home so far, winning the other 13 this season, with City’s visit on Tuesday being their last in front of their own supporters for the 2023-24 campaign.
Tottenham have just bounced back from a streak of four Premier League defeats on the bounce with a nervy 2-1 win over Burnley at the weekend so a visit from the imperious City – who have won seven games on the bounce, scoring 26 goals – should point to a win for the champs.
Man City have never scored a Premier League goal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
They’ve lost all four visits under Guardiola by a combined margin of six goals to nil
But if we look back through the history books, we will see that City have never scored at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the Premier League, let alone won.
Their toothless league record at the new 62,850-seater stadium since it’s opening in 2019 is as follows:
- Tottenham 2-0 Man City, February 2020
- Tottenham 2-0 Man City, November 2020
- Tottenham 1-0 Man City, August 2021
- Tottenham 1-0 Man City, February 2023
City will need to break this duck if they are to win the Premier League title this season.
Spurs love turning up against City
While City’s record at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is woeful, Guardiola’s record in general against Spurs is nothing to shout about.
When it comes to bogey teams, there is no side the Spaniard struggles more against that Spurs.
No matter the manager, Spurs always managed to pluck a result out of somewhere when they face Kevin De Bruyne and Co and it’s something Arsenal fans can cling onto ahead of Tuesday’s crunch clash.
And it’s not just away from home that City have struggled to pick up points against Tottenham
City were left incensed at the end of their 3-3 draw with Spurs this season after the referee prematurely stopped play when Jack Grealish (not pictured) was through on goal
In the 19 matches Guardiola has managed City against Tottenham, he has won nine of them, drawn three and lost seven times. In those 19 games, City have scored 31 goals and conceded 26 times. He’s won an average of 1.58 point per game against Spurs.
Spurs have also had eight different managers since his arrival at the Etihad in 2016, with Mauricio Pochettino, Nuno Espirito Santo, Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho all picking up wins against the Spaniard.
It now remains to be seen if Postecoglou can add his name to the list.
Postecoglou can turn on the style
Speaking of Postecoglou, the Australian masterminded a brilliant result in his first outing against Guardiola in the Premier League earlier this season.
In a frantic six-goal thriller, Spurs managed to snatch a point at the death with Dejan Kulusevski scoring the 90th-minute equaliser back in December.
The crazy encounter saw Son Heung-min break the deadlock inside six minutes, before the Spurs skipper then turned the ball into his own net three minutes later.
Phil Foden scored the go-ahead goal for City on the half-hour mark before Giovani Lo Celso levelled things up with 20 minutes remaining, before Jack Grealish netted City’s third with nine minutes left.
An enthralling encounter than City and Spurs always seem to throw up, in which Postecoglou characteristically refused to budge on his attacking principles.
Ange Postecoglou (right) and Guardiola shared the spoils in their first league clash this season
Son Heung-min scored against City in that 3-3 draw and has a good record against them
Dejan Kulusevski popped up with a 90th-minute equaliser to snatch a point at the Etihad
At the Etihad, Spurs played expansive football and thrived when going toe-to-toe with the champions. A common theme in many of Spurs’ defeats this season is that they’ve struggled severely to break down low blocks, while counter-attacks and set-pieces have been a huge problem.
Saying that, Postecoglou’s style of play presented plenty of problems for City in that meeting before Christmas and should turn on the style again against a high-pressing City side, then we could see fireworks in north London once again.
Still all to play for
It’s not only the title that is up for grabs this season.
The fourth and final Champions League spot is still yet to be won, with Aston Villa favourites to secure their place in Europe’s elite club competition next season.
However, it’s not over yet for Spurs who can still finish fourth if they win their remaining two games against Man City and Sheffield United and pray Villa drop points in theirs.
Villa welcome Liverpool to Villa Park on Monday night, 24 hours before Spurs face City. A win for Liverpool and three points for Spurs will see Postecoglou’s side go to within one point of Unai Emery’s men, setting up a final day decider over who gets that final Champions League spot.
Postecoglou himself has no intention of losing against City, insisting anyone who wants to see their own team lose needs counselling.
When asked about the section of the Spurs fans that would rather see the team lose against Man City to ruin Arsenal’s title bid, he said: ‘If you’re going by social media, 99 per cent of them will want Spurs to lose against Man City… but please don’t tell me that’s your world.
Tottenham can still secure Champions League football but will need results to go their way
‘If it is, you need counselling. I understand rivalry but I’ll never understand anyone wanting their own team to lose.’
It’s fair to say that unlike Postecoglou and the Spurs squad, Tottenham fans would loathe their side helping Arsenal win their first Premier League title in two decades, even if that meant missing out of Champions League football for another season.
And as we close in on one of the biggest games in what could be the Gunners’ history, we could see the extremely rare occasion where Arsenal fans root for Spurs to win on Tuesday while a section of Tottenham fanbase hope they don’t.
