Ange Postecoglou On North London Derby: Emirates Will Be Difficult For Us

Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou has been speaking ahead of their trip to the Emirates to face Arsenal in the 208th English league North London derby game.

Spurs have had a great start to the season as they sit in 2nd place behind Manchester City. Postecoglou has made an instant impact since joining Spurs from Celtic in the summer. He won Premier League manager of the month award for August as well as his summer signing James Maddison winning the player of the month award. Spurs face their toughest test of the season though coming up against Arsenal.

Postecoglou is excited for Sunday but knows it will be a difficult match. He said: “People have given me an indication of how they feel about this game and that’s great.

“I’ve been involved in derbies and one pretty significant one [Old Firm derby]. You understand what it means to the fans. They are a very good footballing side and they have strengthened this year. You can see there is a real belief within them and playing at their place will be difficult for us.

“We have quite a few that haven’t played in this fixture. It’s not just that it’s a derby and away from home but it’s the challenge of overcoming a strong opponent. As much as you want to talk about it, it’s the experience that makes you grow.

“In these fixtures you let the players go out and hopefully express themselves in the right way, I don’t want to put too many restrictions around them.”

For the first time in the competition's history, Arsenal will face Tottenham in a Premier League game with both teams still unbeaten.

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Postecoglou is also pleased with training and players fitness, adding: “Health wise, everyone else from last week is fine and ready to go. We still have two or three who are a bit longer term but everyone else is okay.

“It’s been a good week, training wise. Last week, we only really had one session altogether after the internationals got in so we had a full week of training, a strong week of training.

“We would have preferred to have a Champions League game this week to prepare for a derby but that’s just how it is. We’ll adjust for the fact we didn’t have a top level game this week to prepare for this one.”

The Spurs manager was also questioned on Ivan Perisic’s unfortunate ACL injury and whether he thinks his side can cope without Harry Kane for the remainder of the season.

“It’s disappointing for Ivan more than anyone else,” the former Celtic boss continued. “It’s one of those innocuous things that can happen sometimes. I’ve only worked with him for a little while but you can see why he’s played for some of the biggest clubs, he’s the ultimate pro.

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“It’s disappointing for us too because he’s been important to us. He has a level head and has been significant in all our games so far. He is very strong willed and I have no doubt he’ll come back for club and country to reach the levels before his injury.”

On Kane he said: “There is a risk of feeling that void from the start, that’s the reality. It’s a fairly significant figure on and off the field. We tried to, as a collective, focus on the road ahead and the team we want to be.

“I’ve been pleased with how the lads have tackled the task of trying to be an attacking threat from all areas so people don’t see a glaring gap, but we’re still trying to replace arguably the greatest player this club has ever seen. We’ve managed it well so far.”

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