Sport
North London Derby stats – everything you need to know
The 200th North London Derby takes place on Sunday but will have a very unfamiliar feel to it. Aside from the lack of fans in the stadium, two clubs who are accustomed to competing for Champions League qualification are this season desperately trying to scrape a spot in the Europa League with Arsenal currently eighth and Spurs down in tenth. Defeat for Spurs in particular will deal a terrible blow to their European ambitions, whereas victory could bring them right back into contention, so there is plenty riding on this one. Check out our North London Derby stats ahead of the big game.
Head-to-head record
The most significant of the North London Derby stats, as far as the fans are concerned, is the head-to-head record and it is Arsenal who currently have the bragging rights. The pair have met 199 times in competition with Arsenal winning 82, Spurs winning 64 and 53 draws. Who will win the 200th?
Most appearances
Legendary Arsenal defender David O’Leary holds the record for most appearances in the fixture with 35 during his 18 year Arsenal career which began in 1975 and ended in 1993. With 558 appearances for The Gunners in total, one out of 16 matches he played for the club came against Spurs.
Top scorer
The honour of top scorer in the North London derby is shared between Bobby Smith and Harry Kane, both of Tottenham, who each have scored ten goals in the fixture. Kane has been a constant thorn in the side of Arsenal with his ten goals coming in ten matches, they must be sick of the sight of him. By comparison, Emmanuel Adebayor scored eight goals in 13 matches in the fixture whereas legends Thierry Henry and Gareth Bale each scored five in ten North London Derbies. How many will Kane net by the end of his Spurs career?
Biggest win
Arsenal’s 6-0 demolition of Tottenham on the 6th of March 1935 remains the biggest win in the North London Derby. The highest scoring fixture was Arsenal’s 5-4 victory in 2004, a nine-goal thriller. One of the most remarkable North London Derby stats is that nine different players scored that day with Noureddine Naybet, Jermaine Defoe, Ledley King and Frédéric Kanouté scoring for Spurs while Thierry Henry, Lauren, Patrick Vieira, Freddie Ljungberg and Robert Pires netted for Arsenal.
Streaks
One of the unwanted North London Derby stats is that of the longest winless run in the fixture, an honour which goes to Tottenham who went 21 North London Derbies without a win between their 2-1 victory in November 1999 and their next win which came eight years later in January 2008. Spurs also hold the record for the most consecutive defeats in the North London Derby with 6, which has occurred twice, once in the late 1970s and again in the late 1980s.
Played for both clubs
In total eight players have played in a North London Derby for both clubs; Laurie Brown, David Jenkins, Pat Jennings, Jimmy Robertson, Willie Young, William Gallas, Emmanuel Adebayor and, most controversially of all, Sol Campbell. Of those eight, Jimmy Robertson and Emmanurel Adebayor are the only two who scored for both sides in the derby.
Highest attendance
The highest ever attendance at the fixture was 83,222 in Feburary 2018 in a match at Wembley Stadium, Tottenham’s temporary home while their new stadium was being constructed. Spurs won the fixture 1-0. With no fans in attendance, this Sunday’s fixture will be the lowest ever attendance.
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