Dele Alli believes Chelsea is now the bigger London derby for Tottenham, despite the traditional rivalry of the north London derby against Arsenal. The Spurs midfielder says his teammates have more hostility towards their rivals from west London, despite supporters still counting Arsenal as the bigger fixture.
Dele Alli said “I think if you ask the fans they will give you a different answer. But as players – the way things have been going with the league and the games – the rivalry with Chelsea is bigger than the one with Arsenal, because of what they have done to us in recent years. For fans it’s different, because the North London derby is massive, but as players I think it’s Chelsea.”
Chelsea completed the league double over Spurs this season, with a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge in February their most recent meeting. Frank Lampard’s side also sit seven points above Tottenham in the table, with the Blues on course for a top four place when the Premier League season resumes.Tottenham and Chelsea have clashed in major games in recent years, with FA Cup and League Cup semi-finals contested between the two sides, as well as the Premier League title race in 2016/17. The season before also saw the infamous ‘Battle of the Bridge’ where the Blues came back from 2-0 down to earn a point and hand the title to Leicester in a bad-tempered clash. And Alli believes the magnitude of the dislike between the two sets of players is now greater than the rivalry with Arsenal.
