Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank took a jovial tone when previewing one of the fiercest rivalries the Premier League has to offer.
The Danish coach jokingly described the ex-Brentford pairing of Christian Nørgaard and David Raya in the Arsenal squad as a pair of “traitors” who joined the “wrong club” while also laughing off the tense topic of Eberechi Eze following his summer snub of Spurs.
Frank was in no mood to stoke the flames of the boiling enmity between the two north London rivals before they faced off at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon. As the Spurs boss explained, he doesn’t particularly enjoy the “madhouse” contest which this capital derby invariably produces.
“The interesting thing is that probably both Mikel [Arteta, Arsenal manager] and I would like a little bit more control, but it will probably be a madhouse and very, very enjoyable to watch for the outside people or fans,” Frank outlined.
“I expect a difficult game of course, but a game that can go anywhere and anything can happen in games like that. Everything also evens out a little bit more because it’s so competitive and the atmosphere in the stadium.”
Part of Frank’s efforts to quell that inevitable chaos was humour.
The ex-Brentford boss was reminded that his first Premier League match as a manager was a 2–0 victory over Arsenal four years ago. Only four players from that contest will be lining up against Spurs this weekend. With a twinkle in his eye, Frank interrupted the reporter to say: “And two of them are now traitors and moved to the wrong club,” referring to Raya and Nørgaard who were part of Brentford’s victorious outfit that day.
Frank: “Who’s Eze?”
Frank took an expected approach to the question of Eze’s failed move to Spurs. “Who’s Eze?” the Danish boss asked, maintaining a dead-pan expression just long enough to make a befuddled reporter clarify that he was Arsenal’s No. 10 before the press room burst out laughing along with Frank.
“Very good player,” the Spurs boss said with a smile. “He plays for Arsenal. A team we want to beat on Sunday.”
“I really like to speak about players who are here,” Frank concluded when Eze was raised again. “The only other two I will speak about are [Lionel] Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo.”
The former Crystal Palace playmaker could very well have been one of Frank’s players in a slightly different reality. After terms with Tottenham had been agreed this summer, it was a last-ditch phone call from Eze to Arteta which helped force through a move to his boyhood club.
As the 27-year-old recently explained, he was “prepared to go to Tottenham” only to make a late switch.
“It’s all about timing in football,” Arteta said of the saga this week. “My feeling when I spoke to him was that he wanted to join.”
“I’m very glad that it did work,” the Arsenal boss continued, “it worked in a great way, I’m very happy with what he’s doing, what he can do for the club and the team and it’s just the start of the journey.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘Two Traitors’—Thomas Frank Full of Light-Hearted Jibes Before North London Derby.
