Ange Postecoglou understands the desire of the Tottenham fans to put a dent in Arsenal’s title bid when the sides clash in the North London derby on Sunday.
Arsenal moved back to the top of the table following Tuesday’s 5-0 demolition of Chelsea although they have Manchester City breathing down their necks with Pep Guardiola’s side one point adrift with a game in hand.
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The Gunners may have to win all four of their remaining games if they are take the trophy, providing Spurs with a wonderful chance to hand them a potentially fatal blow at the weekend.
Postecoglou said: “It’s fair enough. I’m not going to dictate how fans feel.
“We understand the importance of the game and particularly at home, not letting our biggest rival in the biggest derby for us get on top of us. We understand the consequences of that.
“Ultimately it’s still about us measuring ourselves against the teams we want to be challenging on a more consistent basis, and it’s a great opportunity for us to do that on Sunday.”
Ange with the latest team news ahead of #TOTARS, including updates on Pedro and Richy 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/gey7I42RhL
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) April 26, 2024
Tottenham have not played since a 4-0 drubbing at Newcastle a fortnight ago. Over that same period, Arsenal have played four times.
“You’d prefer the games, especially at this time of year. It’s unusual to have two weeks of no games at all, particularly when there’s a fair bit of football happening,” added Postecoglou, who will have Pedro Porro and Richarlison available.
“We’ve tried to use that time as well as possible, the players have trained hard. Everyone is looking forward to having a game.”
Postecoglou doesn’t believe their poor display at St James’ Park will necessarily be a factor on Sunday.
“I don’t think one is a reference point for the other,” he said. “Newcastle was disappointing on a number of levels, the performance was nowhere near the levels we wanted.
“When you’re playing in a derby, when there’s so much on it for both clubs, what happened in the past is irrelevant. It’ll be a tough game, it will have an edge to it, a great atmosphere and we have to match that with our performance.”
One man particularly keen to impress on Sunday is captain Son Heung-min who described that defeat at Newcastle as “unacceptable”.
“It was an unacceptable result and unacceptable performance – as well from me,” Son said.
“As a group, we’re talking a lot about this game and performance. Everybody knows how to step up. They’ve all been playing long enough in the Premier League or at a professional team.
“The motivation will be even higher than in other games so we’ve got to just work hard until the game and do our style of play. Then there’s no doubt we can bounce back.”
