Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank took a jovial tone when previewing one of the fiercest rivalries the Premier League has to offer.
The Danish coach jokingly described the ex-Brentford pairing of Christian Nørgaard and David Raya in the Arsenal squad as a pair of “traitors” who joined the “wrong club” while also laughing off the tense topic of Eberechi Eze following his summer snub of Spurs.
Frank was in no mood to stoke the flames of the boiling enmity between the two north London rivals before they faced off at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon. As the Spurs boss explained, he doesn’t particularly enjoy the “madhouse” contest which this capital derby invariably produces.
“The interesting thing is that probably both Mikel [Arteta, Arsenal manager] and I would like a little bit more control, but it will probably be a madhouse and very, very enjoyable to watch for the outside people or fans,” Frank outlined.
“I expect a difficult game of course, but a game that can go anywhere and anything can happen in games like that. Everything also evens out a little bit more because it’s so competitive and the atmosphere in the stadium.”
Part of Frank’s efforts to quell that inevitable chaos was humour.
The ex-Brentford boss was reminded that his first Premier League match as a manager was a 2–0 victory over Arsenal four years ago. Only four players from that contest will be lining up against Spurs this weekend. With a twinkle in his eye, Frank interrupted the reporter to say: “And two of them are now traitors and moved to the wrong club,” referring to Raya and Nørgaard who were part of Brentford’s victorious outfit that day.
