Derby stories | A fresh perspective from James Maddison
Thu 12 September 2024, 15:45|
Tottenham Hotspur
James Maddison experienced his first north London derbies last season and quickly learned 'how much it means for Tottenham to play Arsenal'.
The playmaker made quite an impact in the first at the Emirates, where he provided assists for both of Heung-Min Son's goals as we came from behind twice to take a 2-2 draw.
In doing so, he found the perfect response to a little NLD banter from Arsenal's Bakayo Saka, who mimicked Madders' darts celebration after opening the scoring. Unfortunately, James would later taste the other side of the derby coin as Arsenal ran out 3-2 winners at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in April.
Joining our series of 'Derby stories' this week, in which we've enjoyed the memories of legends with years of experience of this special fixture, here is Madders' take on the N17-N5 rivalry...
I learned what it actually means to our supporters to try and beat them and hopefully we can do that and send our fans home happy...
Speaking to Optus Sport, James was asked how the players get fired up for these games. "I don’t feel like you need to do too much," he said. "Just being around here, coming into work every day, even just living locally, the build up for a north London derby is a little bit different to the other games - in the media, for the fans, social media, everything gets bigged up that little bit more for this one.
"So, we know what it means and, obviously, having played in my first two last year, I know what it means to our fans and how in this part of the world, in north London... the population is kind of split between Tottenham and Arsenal and bragging rights within families and all that sort of stuff off the field.
"Last year I kind of learned basically how much it meant for Tottenham to play against Arsenal and what it means to actually beat your local rival, even though it's just one game and even though it's just three points, it's the same three points you get for beating another team, but what it actually means to our supporters to try to beat them and hopefully we can do that and send our fans home happy with the bragging rights."
Watch James' interview in full here on Optus Sport...
