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Spurs news: Thomas Frank issues apology after crushing derby defeat at Arsenal

Dane was overseeing his first competitive north London derby

Bitterly disappointed: Thomas Frank

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Matt Verri

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Thomas Frank apologised to the Tottenham fans after a heavy 4-1 defeat to Arsenal.

The Dane's first taste of a competitive north London derby was a painful one, Spurs managing just three shots and barely laying a glove on their rivals.

Eberechi Eze scored a hat-trick after Leandro Trossard opened the scoring, while Richarlison netted a superb consolation when lobbing David Raya from 40 yards out.

Arsenal now sit six points clear at the top of the table, while Spurs will drop to tenth if Manchester United pick up at least a point against Everton on Monday night.

The away side were woefully lacking in ambition particularly in the first half and Frank bemoaned how passive his side were.

Asked what most disappointed him about the performance, Frank said: "Where should I start? This is of course hugely disappointing that we didn’t perform better in the game against Arsenal our biggest rivals.

"I can only apologise to the fans for that. I was very confident on Friday when we spoke that we would be competitive today. We tried to come here and be aggressive and press high and in spells go after them.

"We didn’t succeed with that bit. We didn’t manage to get near enough them in the situations we could.

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"It means we got pushed back and got a little too passive. It looks like we are running after them. When we finally got on the ball we were not good enough to get out of those situations."

Spurs started with a back five and had Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur in front of them.

That meant the likes of Xavi Simons, Randal Kolo, Mathys Tel and Brennan Johnson were all on the bench as the visitors looked to frustrate the Gunners.

However, it was 2-0 at the break and Frank duly switched to a 4-2-3-1 at half-time. Within a minute, Eze made it 3-0 and effectively put the match to bed.

The back three worked well against Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup in August, but it was put to Frank that the set-up at the Emirates Stadium had set too negative a tone from the start.

"I’m a very big believer that no matter what system you play you can be successful," Frank said.

"I completely understand the question and I will always take the full responsibility. The full responsibility will always be on me today when we didn’t perform.

"I picked a team that played 5-4-1, changed it half-time - very clever, one minute into it they scored. 3-0. Then the rest is history after that.

"What I would say is that no matter if we played another system we needed to be more aggressive and better in the duels. That doesn’t matter to the system but I need to take responsibility for everything today."

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Les Ferdinand launched into a scathing indictment of Tottenham’s performance after they were thrashed 4-1 by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

Thomas Frank took charge of his first competitive north London derby, but could only watch on as his side were torn to shreds by the league leaders, who are now six points clear at the top of the Premier League.

Eberechi Eze, who was on the brink of a move to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the summer, struck a hat-trick on his derby debut, following up Leandro Trossard’s 36th-minute opener.

Richarlison scored a stunner from distance, lobbying David Raya, but it would go down as just a consolation as Spurs sank to ninth in the table.

In the Sky Sports studio afterwards, Spurs legend Ferdinand fumed at his former club’s defensive approach, with Frank reverting to a back five shape, similar to the one that he adopted in the UEFA Super Cup defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.

“When they came here today with a five at the back, you think to yourself, ‘If you can perform like you performed against PSG’, have a go,” the ex-striker said.

“It wasn’t a negative five at the back [against PSG}, it was a front-footed; go and have a go, and press people.

“They came here, sat back, and allowed Arsenal to come wave after wave. Arsenal didn’t even get out of third gear. Let’s not say this was a five-star performance. The scoreline is five-star. They didn’t have to [put in a five-star showing].

“There was no fight, there was no bite. This is north London. You expect a little bit of spark; a little bit of something. Arsenal had three players that had never played in a north London derby before, Tottenham probably had one.

“There was nothing. Nothing that those players did out there felt like a north London derby to me.”

Tottenham arrived at the Emirates with the best away record in the league, but that was made a mockery of as Arsenal swept their arch-rivals aside with ease.

Arsenal fans unveiled a tifo that included an image of Sol Campbell before the north London against Tottenham.

Ahead of kick-off at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, home supporters unfurled a huge banner at the North Bank showing several former Arsenal players.

Campbell was front and centre on the tifo alongside Thierry Henry, Tony Adams, Gabriel, Bukayo Saka, and Martin Odegaard as Arsenal fans goaded Spurs fans about their former captain.

Campbell joined Arsenal on a free transfer after leaving Spurs in 2001, in what remains one of the most controversial transfers in Premier League history.

The centre-back was Tottenham captain and his move provoked anger among Spurs fans.

Campbell made over 200 appearances for Arsenal, winning two Premier League titles and two FA Cups.

He also scored in the 2006 Champions League final, which Arsenal lost to Barcelona.

The north London derby takes centre stage in the Premier League today as title-chasing Arsenal host bitter rivals Tottenham in an important fixture for both sides. The Gunners saw their lead at the top of the table cut yesterday, but can open up a six-point lead with victory at Emirates Stadium.

An extra incentive for Mikel Arteta’s side to get a win is moving seven clear of Manchester City and 11 clear of reigning champions Liverpool after the two expected title rivals were beaten by Newcastle and Nottingham Forest respectively. Arsenal are boosted by the returns of several key players including Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli but will be without central defender Gabriel.

Tottenham, though, do have the best away record across the entire division and Thomas Frank is bidding to end Spurs’ 15-year winless run in this particular fixture in what is his very first taste of a north London derby. Follow Arsenal vs Tottenham LIVE below with Standard Sport's dedicated match blog, featuring expert analysis from Simon Collings and Matt Verri at Emirates Stadium!

Riccardo Calafiori has been passed fit to start at left-back after recovering from the hip issue which forced him to withdraw from the Italy squad last week.

Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli are back in the squad and on the bench, but there is still no Martin Odegaard.

Arsenal are without Gabriel on Sunday, when they can move six points clear at the top of the Premier League.

Gabriel has injured his thigh and will be out for weeks, although that could yet prove to be longer and he is due to have another scan to confirm the timeline.

“It is clearly a blow because it is our leader in our backline, and it is never a positive thing,” said Arteta.

“The good thing, as you mentioned, is that we have very good options and people have to stand up now and do the job.”

Calafiori has been struggling with a hip issue and had not trained before the weekend, having pulled out of the Italy squad last week.

Odegaard has been out since the start of October, Madueke has not played since September and Martinelli has been sidelined since October.

When asked about Odegaard, Gyokeres, Madueke, Havertz and Martinelli on Friday, Arteta said: “We put a lot of energy during the international break, with all the medical staff as well, to try to bring them [back] as quick as possible.

“So, tomorrow we have another training session, see how some of them are feeling, whether it is a bit too close to bring them into this game or we feel they can have a contribution in the game. Tomorrow we will have more clarity.

“It is the final stage and now it is when there is contact around them, when they have to be pushing to do very unpredictable things that they haven’t done. I think they are going to be with us soon. I don’t know if Sunday is going to be too soon.”

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Mikel Arteta’s side top the Premier League table after 11 games and are unbeaten in 14 across all competitions.

They were pegged back in the last minute by Sunderland in a 2-2 draw last time out, as Brian Brobbey struck in injury time.

Spurs, meanwhile, conceded a stoppage-time equaliser of their own against Manchester United, as Matthijs de Ligt snatched a point for ten-man United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Arsenal will be without Gabriel but could welcome back a couple of key players, with Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli both nearing returns.

There are question marks over Viktor Gyokeres and Martin Odegaard, while Riccardo Calafiori is a doubt following the international break.

As for Tottenham, Dominic Solanke’s comeback trail remains slow, while Radu Dragusin and Mohammed Kudus could both be included here.

TV channel: In the UK, the game will be televised live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League, with coverage starting at 4pm GMT.

Live stream: Sky Sports subscribers can also catch the contest live online via the Sky Go app and website.

Thomas Frank is confident Tottenham's owners will deliver on their ambitious words in the upcoming transfer windows, but warned they must prove it is more than "big headlines".

The younger generations of the Lewis family have taken on an increasingly active role at Spurs this year and led the decision to remove Daniel Levy in September.

It was announced last month that the majority owners had injected £100million of new capital into the club, though it is understood that is not just a transfer kitty.

Those funds will also go towards the day-to-day running of the club as well as paying off fees for transfers that have been made in previous windows.

The Lewis family have emphasised this is a new era at Spurs and that they want more consistent success, and Frank expects that to be backed up with actions.

“They definitely said they are all in for the club, that they want to be here for the long term and they want to have success," he said.

"That’s, of course, a little bit big headlines. We’ll see what happens in the future, but I’m confident they will back us to do everything we can to build a successful club. It’s very, very difficult to give a specific answer.

"I’m very good at talking up here, but it’s about showing it out there on the pitch consistently after setbacks. The same with them.

Spurs spent around £180m in the summer window bringing in the likes of Mohammed Kudus and Xavi Simons, but there were six Premier League clubs who splashed out more than that.

Frank's side take on league leaders Arsenal in the north London derby on Sunday and the Gunners have strengthened significantly in recent years.

Declan Rice is the club's record signing at £105m and Frank was asked whether Spurs would ever spend that much on one player.

"It’s very evident that every successful club - not for one year, over five, six, seven years - to build you need a combination of time and doing the processes. Depending on where the team come from, of course.

"But to stay up there is still very difficult. So time and process, and, then of course, investment. If you want success in football, you need to invest in players. Hopefully, do it cleverly and we want to do it smart, so we don’t invest too much on the wrong players.

"But you need to invest. £100m, I don’t know. Let’s see. I don’t think we are close to spending £100m, put it that way way. But I don’t know, let’s see what happens in the future.”

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