Sat 25 September 2021, 17:18
Tottenham HotspurHe may have only been our Head Coach for a few months, but Nuno Espirito Santo is under no illusions as to the magnitude of the north London derby.
We head to the Emirates on Sunday (kick-off 4.30pm UK) looking for a return to winning ways in the Premier League after Wednesday evening’s penalty shootout triumph against Wolves in the Carabao Cup.
Nuno of course has experience of managing Wolves in their derby against West Brom, while he’s also been at Porto and gone into battle in the three-way rivalry involving Benfica and Sporting.
Ahead of his first competitive match against Arsenal in our colours – remember, we played the Gunners during The Mind Series in pre-season – the boss has underlined his belief that this match is one of the biggest in football.
“To me, it means a lot,” he said. “Even though I’m not a long time at the Club, I have been told and I am aware what it means for our fans and it means a lot. It’s a different game, everything is different, everything that’s around the game is different and we feel it that way. What do I feel? We want to play well.
“Like I said, it’s different from any other. You cannot compare because derbies, they start being derbies because of many different aspects, it can be because of different cities… if you go a little bit in history, all the rivalries started because of so many different reasons. It means a lot for us to play this game.”
Nuno isn’t the only man entering his first Premier League clash with Arsenal – summer signings Cristian Romero, Emerson Royal, Bryan Gil and Pierluigi Gollini are all eligible to feature if selected. Nuno is excited to see what they can bring to the table.
“The spirit of the team is one so everyone who has joined us has to go inside this team spirit and the team spirit for this game is different,” he said. “They will be ready for it.
“For us, we have to focus on our tasks inside of the pitch – this is the best way to play the game.”
