Micky van de Ven has spoken about the North London rivalry and revealed what took him by surprise ahead of his first derby game against Arsenal.
The North London derby is arguably among the intense, hotly contested and entertaining derby clashes in English football.
It is not just people associated with the two North London clubs saying it, but also neutrals, with Gary Neville admitting that the Tottenham-Arsenal clashes are his favourite games in the calendar.
For much of the last two decades, the fixture has been dominated by the home side, but that has started to change over the last couple of years, with Mikel Arteta’s men making it a habit of winning at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium of late.
Micky van de Ven makes an admission about the North London derby
Micky van de Ven, who has now had a few tastes of the fixture, both at home and at the Emirates, has now opened up on how it feels to be involved in the rivalry.
The Spurs centre-back admitted that while he knew of the bad blood between the two clubs, he did not realise how intense the rivalry was until he experienced it first hand.
When asked if he was aware of the rivalry between Tottenham and Arsenal before he signed for the Lilywhites, Van de Ven responded (via GQ Magazine): “I always knew it was a big thing but I’m close with [Jurrien] Timber, and I remember when I joined Spurs, he just joined Arsenal and posted a pic from an Arsenal game.
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“I liked it, and everybody reacted like, “What are you doing? Why are you reacting to him?” Then, ahead of my first north London derby, I started feeling the hate they have for each other, so it was like, Oh, this is way bigger than I thought it was. And to be honest, I like it!”
Tottenham can have the last laugh over Arsenal this season
Despite threatening for much of the season, Arsenal have once again ended their season empty-handed.
Tottenham now have an opportunity to get the bragging rights over their local rivals if they can get their hands on the Europa League trophy.