Arsenal Insider

The North London Derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur is not too far away.

The Gunners have had an excellent start to the new season and are currently on top of the Premier League table ahead of their 10th game.

Tottenham, on the other hand, are third in the table, five points behind Mikel Arteta’s side.

That makes the derby right after the November international break a fascinating watch, but Spurs boss Thomas Frank will not be too pleased with some news now coming out of Arsenal.

Arsenal and Tottenham have three different games to play before the North London Derby, but both teams will already be looking forward to that fixture.

The Gunners have a fantastic recent record against their North London rivals.

Arteta’s side have lost just one of their last nine games against Spurs. That came all the way back in May 2022, when Antonio Conte was still their manager.

Arsenal are looking near-unstoppable now, and that will strike fear into Frank, who knows their side will go into the game as the underdogs.

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What will scare him even more is that the Gunners could be significantly stronger by the time they face Spurs because three key players could return from their injuries – Noni Madueke, skipper Martin Odegaard, and Kai Havertz.

When asked if his hope is that the trio will be back for the derby, Arteta said, as relayed on HaytersTV: “Yeah, and I’m excited because they are tremendous players.

“I see them work every single day, how desperate they are to be part of the team, the huge boost that is going to be for the squad to have those players available again after such a long time.

“I’m really happy that I think it’s going to be very soon.”

Tottenham haven’t beaten Arsenal in the Premier League at the Emirates since 2010. If Madueke, Odegaard and Havertz are all back for the upcoming derby, that record is unlikely to change.

The North London Derby week could define Arsenal’s season

Arsenal had the toughest start out of any team in the Premier League this season.

Games against Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City and Newcastle United in the first six fixtures terrified some fans, but the Gunners did well and came out of it on top of the table.

The next tough run of games for Arsenal will be after this month’s international break, and that week could define their season.

Arsenal take on Tottenham to kick things off before welcoming Bayern Munich in the Champions League just three days later. Then, they head to West London to take on Chelsea in the Premier League.

If Arteta’s men take maximum points in the two London derbies that week, they will become even bigger favourites to win the title.

Arsenal had to work really hard to beat Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium.

The Eagles showed up with the best defensive organisation that the Gunners have faced this season, and many of Mikel Arteta’s men looked lost for large parts of the first half.

However, a set-piece led to Eberechi Eze’s first Premier League goal for Arsenal, and that proved to be enough for the three points.

Former Tottenham manager Tim Sherwood had his say on Eze after the game.

Tim Sherwood says Arsenal signing Eberechi Eze ahead of Tottenham was ‘disgusting’

Eze’s transfer story was one of the biggest in the summer window.

The England international had decided that he wanted to leave Crystal Palace, and he had a couple of admirers.

Arsenal were one of them, but the other club who were desperate to sign him was Sherwood’s beloved Tottenham Hotspur.

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Eze was all set to join Spurs, but he made a last-minute phone call to Mikel Arteta to see if Arsenal would hijack the deal.

After Kai Havertz’s injury, the Gunners obliged, and Eze got his dream move to the Emirates Stadium.

Now, after watching him score the winner for Arsenal against his old club, Sherwood shared his thoughts on Tottenham missing out on Eze.

The former Spurs boss said on Premier League Productions: “He was already a hero before he went to Arsenal.

“The analogy I use is: It was like Tottenham had got a Christmas present on New Year’s Eve under the tree, and when they got down in the morning, it’s gone! And it’s gone to your best friend, à la Arsenal. It was horrendous, but for Arsenal fans, it was amazing news.

“He’s an incredible player. What a player that kid is. He doesn’t have to settle. The boy has played hundreds of games in the Premier League at the top level. He knows that the transition was easy.

“Going in and around the quality of players that Arsenal have as well, it was just an easy transition for him. But to steal him from Tottenham like they did was just disgusting.”

Eberechi Eze’s worst performance at Arsenal helped them win their most important game

When you think about Arsenal’s most important games of the season, your mind goes straight to their clashes against Manchester City and Liverpool.

However, in a weekend where Liverpool had lost again and Manchester City were losing to Aston Villa at the same time, the Gunners simply had to win their game against Crystal Palace.

Even Arteta told his players after the game that it was ‘the biggest victory that we have had this season’. (Arsenal.com)

Eze wasn’t great at all against his former side. In fact, it was arguably his worst performance since he joined the Gunners this summer.

Yet, it was his goal that won Arsenal the game, and they are now six points above Manchester City and seven clear of Liverpool.

A former Tottenham Hotspur manager has admitted that he actually grew up supporting Arsenal.

The Lilywhites have had a number of players on their books who have openly admitted that they had ties with the Gunners before moving to N17.

The likes of Harry Kane, Darren Bent and Matt Doherty have all been linked to Arsenal, although few members of non-playing staff at White Hart Lane or the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium have had these traitorous ties.

That was until one of Spurs’ most successful modern managers revealed that he grew up attending matches at Highbury.

Harry Redknapp says he grew up as an Arsenal fan

Harry Redknapp did an impressive job at Tottenham between 2008 and 2012.

Inheriting a side in the midst of a relegation battle, he reversed the North London club’s fortunes, eventually taking them to Champions League qualification in the 2009/10 season.

During this period, he established himself as one of the most popular managers in Spurs’ recent history, but little did the Tottenham fanbase know that he held allegiances to Arsenal.

Speaking to OTB Football on TikTok, Redknapp revealed that his father was ‘Arsenal mad’ and that he regularly attended games at Highbury as a child.

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“I grew up as an Arsenal fan,” Redknapp explained.

“Oh my god, me and my dad went every week. I lived in the East End of London in a big council estate. Everybody was West Ham. It was a West Ham area. My dad was Arsenal mad.

“We used to get the bus, the 106 bus, the 277 bus every Saturday. My dad was a fantastic non-league footballer. He packed up, and then we used to go. He was Arsenal mad and his favourite all-time player was a man called Jimmy Logie.”

Redknapp rejected the chance to sign Ian Wright for Bournemouth back in the 1980s. Perhaps he subconsciously knew that Wright would go on to become an Arsenal legend, and that signing him for the Cherries would prevent this from materialising.

Will we ever see another Arsenal or Tottenham mercenary?

While boyhood fans of Tottenham have played for Arsenal recently, there have been few pure mercenaries who have happily plied their trade at both clubs in recent years.

The last to play for both North London sides was Emmanuel Adebayor, whose Gunners stint was from 2005 to 2008, and whose Spurs spell was between 2011 and 2014.

William Gallas came not too long before the Togolese, while before that, it was David Bentley and, famously, Sol Campbell.

After what Campbell experienced in terms of abuse following his controversial move across North London, it’s difficult to envisage another player repeating this.

In fact, gone are the days of players moving between arch-rivals in the Premier League. Not too long ago, players would regularly swap Manchester City for Manchester United, or vice versa.

This hasn’t happened for some time, and it appears players are now more reticent to complete such moves, possibly out of fear of the reaction.

Arsenal and Tottenham share a big rivalry in England.

The North London Derby is among the biggest spectacles of the season, and the Gunners have had the upper hand more times than Spurs.

Arsenal have almost always been the bigger side, so players, naturally, prefer moving to the red side of North London over the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

That was the case for one player in 2005, but a deal didn’t materialise.

Jermaine Jenas says he wanted to join Arsenal before Tottenham signed him

Jermaine Jenas played for five different clubs in a career spanning over a decade.

The Englishman started off at Nottingham Forest and made his senior debut for the club. Then, he moved to Newcastle United, for whom he played 152 times in three seasons.

In the summer of 2005, Jenas wanted to leave St James’ Park, and there was a fair bit of interest in him in that window.

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The midfielder, at one point, believed he was on his way to Arsenal and wanted the move as well.

However, Arsene Wenger’s side decided against it, and Jenas ended up signing for the Gunners’ fierce rivals, Tottenham, instead.

Speaking on the Beast Mode On podcast, Jenas said: “When I left Newcastle, I thought I was going to Arsenal, if I’m honest with you. That kind of didn’t transpire, and I was like, ‘Look, I need to get out,’ and I ended up at Tottenham.

“Me and the Tottenham fans got off to a slow start because of that, because in their minds, they were like: ‘You wanted to go to Arsenal and now you’re here.'”

“You did want to go to Arsenal, though?” Adebayo Akinfenwa asked Jenas.

He replied: “I did, yeah. I mean, Arsene Wenger was there. He was like the Pep Guardiola of football at that time. If you wanted to go to Harvard and gain a better education, Arsene Wenger and Arsenal were where it was at as a young player.”

Arsene Wenger once explained why Arsenal didn’t sign Jermaine Jenas

Arsenal’s interest in Jenas back in 2005 was genuine.

Wenger admitted in a press conference at the time that he was indeed a fan of the midfielder, but Graeme Souness’ demands at Newcastle forced Arsenal to abandon their pursuit.

“I like Jenas, but I’m not intent on any player at the moment,” Wenger said in 2005, as per World Soccer.

“When I heard Graeme Souness’ statement a few weeks ago, it was discouraging. He spoke in the region of £20 million – we are not interested at that price.”

Jenas later revealed that Wenger told him that he should’ve signed him even before he went to Newcastle.

The Frenchman apparently even admitted that not making a move for him was a mistake.

There are a number of former Arsenal players who are making their way in the coaching world.

Cesc Fabregas is doing a solid job over at Como, while Patrick Vieira is pretty experienced as a manager at this point.

Meanwhile, Thierry Henry has dipped his toe in management too.

Another former Gunner who is looking to make waves in management is Jack Wilshere.

The Arsenal icon used to coach the Gunners’ U21s, while Wilshere recently rejected a return to Arsenal in order to pursue other opportunities.

Speaking on TalkSPORT, Wilshere was asked about his coaching aspirations, and interestingly, he was asked if he would take a job at Tottenham if he was offered the chance to go to Spurs.

Jack Wilshere responds when asked if he’d go to Tottenham

Wilshere was asked if he’d take a coaching job at Spurs if he was given a role on good money.

Of course, as an Arsenal legend, Wilshere isn’t necessarily the biggest fan of Tottenham, and, in true Jack Wilshere fashion, he made it clear that he wouldn’t take this job.

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“Okay. if the phone rang and you got offered an unbelievable job with great money but it was Spurs would you go?” Wilshere was asked.

“No,” Wilshere said.

Jack Wilshere’s ‘crazy’ Tottenham prediction

Wilshere has made it clear just how much he doesn’t like Tottenham Hotspur on numerous occasions in the past.

Indeed, Wilshere famously led the ‘what do we think of Tottenham?’ chants after winning the FA Cup, while prior to this season, he backed Spurs to seriously struggle.

“What is your crazy prediction for next season?” Wilshere was asked.

“Arsenal win the Champions League, Tottenham win five matches,” Wilshere said.

We’ve seen Arsenal legends manage Tottenham before – George Graham for example, but it sounds as though hell may freeze over before we see Wilshere in the Spurs dugout.

Arsenal are among the clubs that should be worried about a big decision Tottenham Hotspur have made, according to Jamie O’Hara.

The Spurs-leaning pundit is no stranger to trying to get one over on Arsenal over the years, as difficult as it has been for the most part.

Admittedly, they did somehow win the Europa League last season, even though – in true Spursy fashion – they were an embarrassment in the Premier League.

However, O’Hara is now convinced that, this time, Tottenham have done something that will see them turn a corner.

Jamie O’Hara thinks Arsenal should be worried by Daniel Levy departure

Jamie O’Hara took to Sky Sports to claim that, with Daniel Levy stepping down as Tottenham chairman, it’s as though they have been unshackled.

“Spurs, now, are well and truly back,” began the pundit.

When asked whether Tottenham’s rivals should be worried, he replied: “Yeah, I think they should be worried. I do.

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“And you can laugh at me, you can click this up and say what you want, but Spurs now are well and truly back.

“I’m telling you, this could be the change of the guard. If we get the right investment, the right people in charge, and we have ambition to go and spend money.

“The foundations are there, the stadium is there, the facilities are there.

“If you’re prepared to pay the money, pay the wages and get the top players in, teams like Arsenal, teams like Chelsea, they should be worried.”

Well, we’ll see what happens. There’s always the risk it could be a case of ‘be careful what you wish for’.

The former Arsenal stalwart now overseeing decision-making at Tottenham

Arsenal fans recently joked that Levy’s exit was bad news for them, sarcastically deeming him a Gunners legend for how he – in their opinion – held Spurs back.

However, what’s interesting is that the man who will make day-to-day decisions at Tottenham is someone who was at Arsenal for years.

Vikai Venkatesham joined Arsenal from his role as a commercial manager with London 2012 and worked his way up at the North London club.

His biggest role at Arsenal was as CEO from 2020 to 2024, before eventually leaving and turning up at Spurs.

The world of football was rocked on Thursday evening as it was announced that after 25 years, Daniel Levy would be stepping down as the chairman of Tottenham Hotspur.

Arsenal fans weren’t happy to see Levy leaving Tottenham as he’s overseen a rather barren 25 years on the trophy front.

Now, things could be set to change at Spurs as Daniel Levy is departing and a new era is dawning across the way in north London.

As much as Arsenal fans won’t like to hear it, Spurs are geared up for a successful period, they have the best stadium in the country that is a revenue-machine, their training ground is brilliant, and Thomas Frank is a very good coach.

Now, with this backroom shake-up, Tottenham may also improve behind-the-scenes, and that may be a worry for Arsenal, and particularly Josh Kroenke.

Josh Kroenke will be worried by Daniel Levy departure

Daniel Levy departing Tottenham could help propel Spurs into a new era.

As of right now, it’s unclear who will take up Levy’s post as Chairman, but it does appear Tottenham already have their ducks in a row.

Indeed, Johan Lange is in place as the Sporting Director, while Vinai Venkatesham arrived at Spurs over the summer as the new CEO.

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Venkatesham’s importance and influence at Tottenham is likely to increase after Levy’s departure, and that’s something Arsenal should be worried about.

Indeed, Arsenal know just what a savvy operator Venkatesham is. He played a key role at Arsenal in recent years in helping Mikel Arteta get this team back on track, and now, he could be set to do the same at Spurs.

Josh Kroenke always had a lot of respect for Venkatesham, and now, he’s set to play a key role in rebuilding Arsenal’s rivals.

What Josh Kroenke said when Vinai Venkatesham left Arsenal

Venkatesham was a very respected member of the Arsenal backroom team for a number of years before leaving to join Tottenham.

Venkatesham’s impact was very much appreciated by the higher-ups at Arsenal, so much so that Josh Kroenke gave a heartfelt thank you when he left the club.

“The Board is fully supportive of Vinai’s desire to pursue his next challenge. Whilst it is business as usual with everyone focused on the season ahead, we’d like to take this moment to thank him for his contribution and long service. Vinai will always be part of the Arsenal family and always welcome back at Emirates Stadium,” Kroenke said.

“Change and succession is something the club is well prepared for. The Board remains committed to our strategy and will address leadership change as we continue to drive the club forward.”

Kroenke clearly has a lot of appreciation for Venkatesham, but now, he’s going to turn from ally to rival and he could well help Tottenham get to a similar level to Arsenal in the coming years.

Arsenal gave their fans the best possible start to a first home Premier League game of the season with the signing of Eberechi Eze.

Arsenal had been linked with Eberechi Eze for much of the summer, but for a while, it looked as though they had cooled their interest in the Crystal Palace star.

This gave Tottenham Hotspur a chance to step in, but after weeks of negotiations, they fumbled big time as Arsenal decided to make their approach.

Within a few hours of the initial reports, Eze to Arsenal had reached “here we go” status – and now, the deal is officially done, complete with announcement.

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish is a shrewd negotiator, but Arsenal had an ace up their sleeve that resulted in Spurs effectively getting ghosted for Eze.

Tim Lewis’ good relationship with Steve Parish helped Arsenal sign Eberechi Eze

It’s now common knowledge that Tottenham were in talks over Eze for some time before Arsenal swooped in and completed a deal in a matter of hours.

It’s also well known that Eze would have preferred a move to Arsenal over Spurs, but in the end, it was Palace’s preference too, according to The Athletic.

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The outlet has reported that negotiations between Tottenham and Palace had proven ‘difficult’.

Meanwhile, Arsenal’s executive vice-chair Tim Lewis has a good relationship with Parish, which meant they kept in contact over Eze even when the Gunners cooled their interest.

And when Arsenal then decided to rekindle their interest, talks proceeded smoothly between the two clubs.

In addition, the outlet reported that, on Wednesday morning, Tottenham acquiesced to all of Palace’s demands over Eze.

‘They never heard back,’ wrote The Athletic. ‘Within hours, Parish had struck a deal with Arsenal.’

Eberechi Eze’s first word upon joining Arsenal

Arsenal dropped a superb announcement video for Eze’s arrival, which would have only been better had Sol Campbell also featured.

During the video, Highbury legend Ian Wright asked the questions: “Do you want to realise those dreams? Do you want The Arsenal?”

And Eze replied with a simple one-word response: “Obviously.”

Arsenal have also confirmed that Eze – who was unveiled to fans before the Leeds game – will wear the No. 10 shirt.

Arsenal will be looking to feed off the feel-good factor from the home supporters as they welcome Leeds United to the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal fans are still revelling in the news that the club have beaten arch rivals Tottenham Hotspur to the signing of Eberechi Eze.

Spurs fans are distraught over losing Eze after they had an agreement in place with Crystal Palace for the England international.

It leaves Thomas Frank searching for another attacking talent to bolster his squad but former defender Michael Dawson has warned Tottenham away from going after another Arsenal transfer target.

Michael Dawson warns Tottenham Hotspur away from Arsenal transfer target Ademola Lookman

Had the Gunners missed out on the signing of Eze, Ademola Lookman was a player that was attracting interest from the club.

Lookman has skipped training at Atalanta during pre-season and his relationship with the club has become strained throughout the summer.

With Spurs still looking to add some more firepower to their attacking options and Andrea Berta also aware of any further market opportunities, Dawson doesn’t want his old side to rival Arsenal for Lookman.

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Dawson stated: “Ademola Lookman. Another player I like but would I go and sign him in what we’ve got in those wide areas? Probably not.”

Lookman has previous experience in the Premier League with the likes of Fulham and Everton but his career has really taken off over in Serie A.

The winger scored 20 goals in all competitions for Atalanta last season and grabbed the attention of the footballing world in the 2024 Europa League final by scoring a hat-trick against a formidable Bayer Leverkusen side.

Arsenal’s main focus for the rest of the transfer window is selling players in order to balance the books after a summer of spending.

PSR rules are not an issue at Arsenal with the club having ‘headroom’, however, player sales will be needed in order for future transfer business not to be affected.

Fabio Vieira is one player expected to depart the Emirates before the September 1st deadline and Bayern Munich have been mooted as a possible destination.

Stuttgart were interested in Vieira, however, they are reluctant to pay the asking price set by the Gunners. This one could rumble on until the final few hours of the window.

There has been an air of celebration at Arsenal over the past few days after the Gunners humiliated Tottenham Hotspur by signing Eberechi Eze from under Spurs’ noses.

Many Spurs fans were convinced that they were about to land Eberechi Eze at Arsenal’s expense – but they were proven wrong.

In the space of a few hours, the transfer rumour mill went from ‘Arsenal make approach for Eze‘ to ‘Arsenal have sealed Eze deal‘.

However, David Ornstein said something slightly worrying about Arsenal in the wake of the Eze deal, namely that the Gunners aren’t in a great position regarding FFP.

“Arsenal had a lot of headroom on Premier League PSR,” Ornstein said on The Athletic FC Podcast. “So that’s one thing in their favour.

“They did not have a lot of headroom on UEFA’s FFP, Financial Fair Play rules. They are tight on that. And so, some manoeuvring will need to be done.

“But right now, I’m not getting any sense that they’re in a panicked situation.”

GRV Media’s football finance expert Adam Williams has now spoken exclusively to Arsenal Insider about Arsenal’s current situation under UEFA’s financial rules.

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“I have been wondering about Arsenal’s status under UEFA’s financial rules for a while,” said Williams.

“There are two components of the UEFA system. A) Football Earnings and B) Squad Cost.

“On the Football Earnings side of things, they are absolutely fine. The loss limit is about £75m over three seasons with the maximum allowance, which Arsenal will get.

“They lost £14m in the last financial year, but that will have swung back to a decent profit when you add back expenses like infrastructure and youth investment, which are exempt from FFP.

“For 2024-25, they are going to post a decent profit even before those allowable expenses, so they have – I would guess – the scope to lose something like £100m-plus before Football Earnings becomes a concern.

“They aren’t going to get close to that. Remember, transfer fees are amortised over up to five years, so £250m worth of deals this summer is only going to impact the bottom line by £50m this financial year, which is what FFP is based on. So they are fine there.

“The issue is the Squad Cost element of the rules. Under this system, you’re not allowed to spend more than 70 per cent of revenue plus player sale profits on player and manager wages, transfers and agents’ fees.

“The complicated thing with this test is that it’s based on calendar years, not seasons. That makes things harder to work out, because financial years are reported in alignment with football seasons, so we can’t delineate in terms of what revenue or costs arose at what date.

“But let’s take 2023-24 as an example. Their revenue was £613.5m and their profit on player sales was £70m, so their relevant turnover was £683.5m.

“If this was a calendar year, that would give them a limit of £429.5m for wages, transfers and agents’ fees.

“Their wages were £328m and their amortisation was £171m, which is £499m total. So if UEFA had been assessing them based on that financial year, they would have been over the limit.

“The good thing is that, in 2024, the limit was 80 per cent, so they weren’t close to breaching. But it shows you how things are going to get tough.”

What Arsenal need to do to avoid FFP trouble

In a nutshell, Arsenal would need to make sales now if they are sailing close to the wind, as the January transfer window would be too late for them due to the calendar-year nature of the Squad Cost element.

Williams continued: “UEFA has begun to bare its teeth with the squad cost rule. Chelsea, Villa and a handful of others have received fines. Most of the total amount, however, is suspended pending compliance with a financial settlement.

“So basically, as long as you aren’t repeat offenders, you aren’t going to get a sporting sanction. For that reason, some people I speak to are thinking about it more as a luxury task, a cost of doing business.

“That said, it’s a headache Arsenal could do without. The thing is, because it’s a calendar-year test, if Arsenal are close to the bone, then they would need to make sales now. The January window will be too late.

“In one sense, however, I think Stan Kroenke will be pleased… If UEFA are properly enforcing the rules, it means other clubs will be spending less.

“This means Arsenal have to spend less to compete with them, which means Kroenke doesn’t have to underwrite financial losses at the Emirates. That’s the dynamic at play here.”