Robert Pires was once Spurs' bête noire, but now Tottenham are
favourites in the North London derby. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for
the Guardian
As Arsène Wenger prepares to pick a team to take into the
enemy's lair at White Hart Lane on Sunday, there is one player out
on the training pitches of London Colney who must almost torment
him by his presence. Robert Pires is back at Arsenal. He turns 38 at the end of the
month, and is keeping himself trim for a suitable opportunity to
continue his playing career as long as possible because he cannot
quite let go of the game he adores. Pires was one of Wenger's most
inspired purchases – not least because of a phenomenal record in
north London derbies.
Considering this was a player who famously sat on the
substitutes' bench for an hour of his first game in English
football with his eyes on stalks and a heavy feeling in his stomach
as Arsenal lost a bruising encounter at Sunderland, Pires was not
an obvious choice to throw himself into the hostile heat of the
derby. He was booked in his first north London duel, and with his
feathers duly ruffled, went on to score eight times in 12 games.
Three times he was the match-winner. Twice he delivered an
equaliser to deflate the opposition at White Hart Lane. He has no
idea what it feels like to lose one of those loaded encounters.
With such experience on tap, Wenger must feel a tiny bit tempted
to at the very least bring him into the dressing room this weekend
to build up a team whose wobbles mean they have mislaid the hex
they held over Tottenham for years.
For a decade under Wenger Arsenal enjoyed a 21-game unbeaten
spell over Spurs in the Premier League. But since that ended
in April 2010, Tottenham's two wins and a draw have altered the
psychology of the match completely.
Pires was a tanned and enviably relaxed spectator at the
Emirates during the week as Arsenal squeaked past Olympiakos. He
was grateful for the booster of a win ahead of the derby.
"Confidence is vital, and it's true that Arsenal have not had a
good start to the Premier League," he said. "This is a complicated
game. But for the team to have won against Bolton and Olympiakos in
the build-up to the derby is important."
The team's fortitude has been worrying him. As he explained to
France Football magazine in the post-mortem of Arsenal's
8-2 defeat at Old Trafford: "I don't like too much to compare teams
and players. We had our team, our leaders. This team – and it was
already evident last season when you think about the defeat to
Birmingham – doesn't have the foundation, the guys who can lift
their team-mates back up. Arsène has to build his team like he has
always wanted to, with players who love the ball, but with warriors
too." He expressed relief to see players such as Per Mertesacker
and André Santos arrive with all their experience.
The difference between the team Pires graced and the current
group is striking. But so, too, is the difference in Spurs.
Consider the players involved
when Arsenal won the title at White
Hart Lane in 2004, the climax of the Invincibles'
season. A couple of minutes into the game, Tottenham had a corner.
It was taken by Johnnie Jackson and aimed at Anthony Gardner.
When Ashley Cole won possession, Thierry Henry picked up the
ball and ran turbocharged towards the opposite penalty area, he
slipped the ball to Dennis Bergkamp, whose cross was driven in by
Patrick Vieira. The Spurs line-up that day also included Mauricio
Taricco and Michael Brown. Arsenal had Sol Campbell, Gilberto Silva
and the other goalscorer – Pires.
Even though Tottenham salvaged a draw, even those with most
intense white and blue tinted spectacles would admit there was a
gulf in quality. Today, the nature of any discernible gap is such
that Arsenal travel along the Seven Sisters Road as underdogs. What
they wouldn't do for a younger Pires in the starting XI. "I have
big memories of this game," he said last week outside the players'
lounge at the Emirates. "Against Spurs it is always special. It has
particular meaning, and as players you understand that. It's true
that if you have the chance to score against them it is great, as
it means so much for the fans."
There is, incidentally, another recent Arsenal player with eight
goals from north London derbies. His name is Emmanuel Adebayor.