Feature

5 obscure stats about north London derby history

Gabriel Jesus celebrates scoring against Tottenham

Sunday sees our local rivals head across the capital for the north London derby - a fixture rich with historic moments and drama.

Ahead of the game, we’ve delved into the record books to bring you some of the more obscure statistics from our meetings with Tottenham, and give you all the trivia you need to impress your mates wherever you’re watching this iconic clash.

Home comforts

When it comes to meetings on our own turf, we have dominated recent proceedings, and have lost just two of our 31 Premier League home games against Spurs (W17 D11).

Indeed, it is nearly 13 years since Tottenham last left Emirates Stadium having claimed three points. Aside from that 2-1 defeat in November 2010, our only other blemish came back in the division’s inaugural season in 1992/93, meaning we’re currently on a run of 12 league meetings unbeaten on our own patch.

Mikel Arteta has a perfect record in his three home league meetings against Spurs and should he win again on Sunday, he’d become just the second manager – after Terry Neill between 1977 and 1980 – to win each of his first four home north London derby matches in charge of us.

A history of high scores

Arsenal v Tottenham is the third-highest scoring fixture in Premier League history (177), behind only our encounters with Liverpool (184) and Everton (178). That equates to an average of 2.85 goals per game across our 62 meetings.

On four occasions there have been games that have seen seven or more goals: successive 5-2 home wins for us in 2012, a 4-4 draw at Emirates Stadium in 2008, and the 5-4 win at White Hart Lane back in 2004 where Robert Pires grabbed what proved to be the winner.

Penalty prominence

No fixture in Premier League history has seen more penalties awarded than in the north London derby, with the 24 the derbies have seen matching the same total as games between Liverpool and Spurs.

You have to go back to the 2017/18 campaign for the last season that didn’t see a penalty awarded in one of our meetings home or away, with the recently departed Harry Kane having scored seven of his NLD-record 14 goals against us from the penalty spot, the most any player has scored against single opponent in the competition's history. 

Comeback kings

We have enjoyed some topsy-turvy encounters against our neighbours in recent times, such as overturning a two-goal deficit to record a convincing 5-2 victory in February 2012.

In fact, Tottenham have dropped more points from leading positions against us than any other side has against another in Premier League history (45), and have let leads slip in 19 of our 62 top-flight meetings since 1992 - 11 of which came in N5. Spurs have, however, won three of their last four against us in which they’ve taken the lead.

Late drama overdue?

There have been six goals scored in the 90th minute or later in Premier League history in matches between us and Spurs, but none since the 4-4 draw in October 2008 when Aaron Lennon denied us victory.

As well as that 15-year wait for added-time agony or ecstasy, there’s never been a winning goal scored during stoppage-time of a Premier League north London derby.

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