The North London Derby is in my opinion more classic than El Classico or Manchester United v Liverpool. United Liverpool is product of the era of United’s run on Liverpool’s history records. El Classico is too many theatrics for my liking.
But the North London Derby in the first division goes back to 4 December 1909 with Arsenal winning 1-0 (GET IN!) It is steep in animosity directly related to the move to Highbury in 1914. When as the myth goes Arsenal moved 4 miles away from Tottenham in North London. Except what people miss is that Middlesex of where White Hart Lane is, was not officially part of the London city limits until 1965. But I digress.
We decided to do a special episode of YAMACAST to talk over memories of North London Derbies and what they mean to the locals. In this singular conversation I am joined by Steve of the Steve’s Bald Collective podcast. GC of She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Amanda of the Gooner Girl’s Podcast. Each one provides their own personal insight into the greatest football rivalry there is.
North London Derby Stats:
As of October 1, 2009 there have been 163 competitive first-class meetings between the two teams since the first league meeting in 1909, of which Arsenal have won 67 and Tottenham 50.The most goals in one game were scored in the closely contested 5-4 Arsenal Premiership victory at White Hart Lane on November 13, 2004. The biggest winning margin was a 6–0 away win by Arsenal on March 6, 1935. Tottenham have twice won 5–0 (December 25, 1911 and April 4, 1983) and Arsenal once, all three fixtures taking place at White Hart Lane.
Tottenham’s record for goals scored against Arsenal is shared by Billy Minter and Bobby Smith, with nine goals each. Arsenal’s record is held jointly by Emmanuel Adebayor, Alan Sunderland & Robert Pireswith eight each. Adebayor also holds the record for most goals by a player in the North London derby with 10, 8 for Arsenal and 2 for Tottenham. Arsenal’s long-time defender David O’Leary holds the record for most North London derbies played (35), while Gary Mabbutt and Steve Perryman shared the corresponding record for Spurs, with 31.
Terry Dyson is the only Spurs player to score a hat-trick in a first-class derby game, having done so on August 26, 1961, in a 4–3 win for Spurs. The Arsenal players to have done so are Ted Drake (October 20, 1934) and Alan Sunderland (December 23, 1978).
Enjoy! Stay Goonerish!
