Harry Kane, it is merely the latest marker of Tottenham Hotspur’s progress under Mauricio Pochettino. The club have north London bragging rights in their sights – finally. If they beat Arsenal in the derby at White Hart Lane on Sunday, they will finish above them in the Premier League table for the first time since 1994-95.
Back then, Gerry Francis was in charge at Tottenham, having taken over from Ossie Ardiles in November 1994, while Arsenal also underwent a managerial change during the season – Stewart Houston stepping in to replace George Graham, who was sacked in February 1995 after the bungs scandal. Spurs finished seventh, Arsenal 12th.
Kane was not even two years old at the time but, as he grew up in a Tottenham household, the striker came to know all about Arsenal’s hold over his club and, specifically, what it meant to the fans. The annual marking of St Totteringham’s Day by Arsenal supporters became a thing and it was celebrated with particular ridicule at the end of last season. Spurs had been in a two-horse race for the title with Leicester and yet they contrived to finish third – below the surprise champions and Arsenal.
Kane, of all people, could be forgiven for wanting to talk up the prospect of Tottenham being able to look down on Arsenal at the end of a season but, in keeping with the message from Pochettino, he sees a bigger picture. To both of them, the neighbourhood spat seems trivial – parochial, even – when placed in the context of Spurs’ battle with Chelsea for the title.
“Exactly,” Kane says. “And it shows how far we’ve come in a short amount of time. Since the gaffer has been here, he’s changed everything and he’s been fantastic. You see the belief in the squad; you see the way we play.
“Sometimes, we win 4-0 and we play fantastically and then there are nights like last Wednesday at Crystal Palace when we have to dig deep and get a 1-0 win. We did that and it shows we can do both sides of the game. We’ve got to do that until the end of the season.
“For the fans, it would be great to finish above Arsenal and actually do it by winning against them but, from our point of view, we’ve got bigger things to look forward to. We’ve got to try and win that game to keep the pressure on Chelsea as much as we can.”
Chelsea are four points clear of Tottenham, with five matches to play. The leaders face Everton at Goodison Park before the derby kicks off at 4.30pm. Arsenal lag 18 points behind Chelsea. “We’ll probably be watching Chelsea while we’re waiting for our game,” Kane says. “But we’ve just got to keep winning. The derby is massive.”
There was plenty of talk in the aftermath of Tottenham’s win at Palace about how they had shown their mental toughness and maturity to bounce back from last Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final defeat against Chelsea. They have now won eight league matches in a row. Kane knows that it is Pochettino who has driven the change in the club’s mentality.
“The gaffer has installed his philosophy with the way we play – the pressing and getting the ball down – but he’s also installed that steel in us; that we’ve just got to find a way to win. He’s a very passionate manager and that bleeds into the rest of the team.”
