Theo Walcott says the intensity of the north London derby spurs the players on to reach new heights.
Arsenal travel to White Hart Lane on Wednesday night to take on Tottenham Hotspur in the third round of the Capital One Cup, and Walcott and his team-mates know just how important the game is.
“Local derbies at White Hart Lane are special,” he told Arsenal Player. “They are games that everyone wants to be part of and it’s most important now to get the right result, for the fans especially.
"When you hear the odd fan say stuff in the crowd, it just spurs you on. You just want to prove what they say [is] wrong"
Theo Walcott
“At times it doesn’t matter how you play in these matches, you just [need to] get the result. People say the derby is now not as raw as it used to be, but trust me, a lot of the players know how big this is.
“Because it’s so loud at home and away, you just get a great buzz from it all. Any small error is picked up on straight away and you don’t want that to happen.
“When you hear the odd fan say stuff in the crowd, it just spurs you on. You just want to prove what they say [is] wrong.
“When you score, the emotions come out and you can see the emotions, especially in these matches. It means so much and we want to celebrate with the fans. We’re going to be completely on it, we have to be, and hopefully beat them at their place.”
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
