Spurs v Arsenal - history, stats and facts

On Sunday afternoon we take on our old rivals Arsenal in the Premier League (4.30pm kick-off).

Ahead of the north London derby, we take a look at the history of the fixture, some of its recent key moments, the statistics behind both teams' seasons so far, as well as the pre-match view from our opposition.

The history

One hundred years ago this January, following their rebrand and relocation from Woolwich, we faced Arsenal for the first time in the league. Just like our upcoming meeting almost a century on, that encounter came at home and we claimed victory with a 2-1 win – Jimmy Cantrell and Bert Bliss on target for us in N17.

Over the first 55 years of clashes between the two clubs, we enjoyed a strong home record against the Gunners with just four defeats in the fixture over that period. That run included two 5-0 wins over the Arsenal - our biggest triumphs over our old rivals to date and both came at the Lane, the first in 1901 and the second in 1911 - we do enjoy years ending in one! In 1901, in the London League, Sandy Brown fired home a hat-trick in front of 4,000 fans at our former home after David Copeland and John Barlow had put us two ahead. A decade later, we repeated that feat in front of a crowd more than 10 times the size of that previous encounter. Jabez Darnell, John McTavish and Bert Middlemiss were all on target for us that day, while the legendary Billy Minter - the first ever player to reach 100 goals for us - grabbed a double.

To date, only one Spurs player has scored a hat-trick in a top-flight meeting between the two sides. Coming at the Lane in August, 1961, as we searched for our first home win of the new season following our 1960/61 title winning campaign, we played out an all-time classic with the Gunners. Terry Dyson was the man to rattle home the treble, which included the eventual winner as we just edged out our rivals 4-3. Four years later, the fixture also produced a landmark moment in Spurs history - our first-ever substitute in a league fixture came in a home game against Arsenal with Roy Low replacing Derek Possee in September, 1965.

Sunday’s meeting with Arsenal could mark Gareth Bale’s first appearance in the fixture since March, 2013. Of course, with the standout season he enjoyed in 2012/13, the Welshman found the back of the net in that game - it was his ninth goal in seven games in all competitions a the time, and the fifth goal he had contributed to in his last six outings against the men from N5. Gareth was sent clear and flicked the ball around Wojciech Szczesny with the outside of his boot for the opener. Scott Parker then played through Aaron Lennon for our second with the winger skipping around Szczesny before rolling the ball home to double our lead. Per Mertesacker pulled one back in the second half for the visitors but it was to be our day in N17 as we held on for a 2-1 victory.

'Form does not matter’

With Arsenal currently sitting 14th - the lowest in the table that our local rivals have headed into to a north London derby for 27 years - the numbers and statistics surrounding this encounter certainly weigh in our favour. For starters, in Premier League home games against Arsenal, we are currently on a run of six games without defeat (W4 D2), which is our longest unbeaten home run in the fixture since the glory, glory 60s, in which we went on a run of nine games between January, 1960, and January, 1968.

Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho holds a rather impressive home record against Arsenal in the league having never lost a meeting with the Gunners in his career to date. He also won his first derby as Spurs manager having led us to a 2-1 victory over them in July earlier this year – goals from Heung-Min Son and Toby Alderweireld delivering all three points. For Jose though, form usually goes out of the window in these derby clashes.

“The form doesn’t matter. The position doesn’t matter. For me, in these matches, there is no form and there is no position,” he explained. “And on top of that, Arsenal is a good team and, for sure, they are going (to go) back to what gave them good results, what gave them even a title last year, when they beat Manchester City in the (FA Cup) semi-finals and Chelsea in the (FA Cup) final. They will go back to these basics which gave them good results so, a very difficult match for us, for sure.”

However, only one Spurs manager in history has won their first two north London derbies – Jimmy Anderson back in 1955/56. Meanwhile, only one Arsenal manager in history has lost his first two north London derbies - Bertie Mee in 1966/67. With our victory in July marking both Jose and Mikel Arteta's first derby in charge of their respective clubs, there is the chance for further history to be made if we are to come out on top on Sunday.

Arsenal haven’t lost two Premier League north London derbies in a row in a decade either. In April, 2010, we earned a 2-1 victory over the Gunners at the Lane - that was the night Danny Rose scored his first-ever Spurs goal with a thunderbolt from outside the box. Gareth Bale scored our second. We then earned our first-ever league win at the Emirates stadium. Gareth was once again on the scoresheet alongside Rafael van der Vaart and Younes Kaboul as we came from 2-0 down to win 3-2.

One key outcome to look for in this game is the fate of the side who scores first as, in the past 51 Premier League meetings between the teams, the side that has opened the scoring has gone on to win in only 27 of those games.

From an Arsenal perspective, their captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is hoping this derby will be a turning point in his side’s season. “I think this is the game that we have to understand is going to be the turning point for us for this season. What's better than the derby?” Aubameyang questioned. "I think if we win this game, everyone is going to maybe change their mindset and yes, as I said it's going to be the turning point of the season, and there's no better game than a derby to do it.

“It's going to lift everyone if we win this game. We know it's going to be a tough game, they are playing well at the moment to tell the truth, but we have to care about our game, how we want to play the game, so it's all about us if we want it or not.”