Pochettino and Wenger must ensure it’s not same old Spurs and misfiring Gunners on show at White Hart Lane

Spurs and Arsenal face each other this weekend (PA Wire & Getty Images)

Something far more important than bragging rights are at stake when they meet at White Hart Lane as it’s not an exaggeration to say that the title hopes of both sides are on the line.

The events of the past 10 days have arguably been the most dispiriting for Arsenal fans for a long time. Since their last title-winning season of 2004, they have become wearingly accustomed to the season collapsing in February and March.

It is currently five successive exits from the Champions League in the round of 16 for Arsene Wenger and his side and it will soon become six when Barcelona finish off the job they started with a 2-0 win at the Emirates last Tuesday night. But there is one thing losing to the reigning European Champions and the best team on the planet. What has happened in the last two games has been simply unforgivable.

Old Trafford has not been a happy hunting ground in recent years for Arsenal where they have not won in the Premier League since September 2006. Yet last Sunday, they were presented with a Manchester United side consisting of De Gea, Varela, Carrick, Blind, Borthwick-Jackson, Schneiderlin, Herrera, Mata, Depay, Lingard and Rashford. A United side shorn of the stars of previous vintages. What an opportunity against a scratch team forced by injuries.

But rather than showing the desire to overwhelm an opponent on its knees, Arsenal subsided meekly to a deserved 3-2 defeat. And then last night, when offered an immediate chance to bounce back with a home game against relegation threatened Swansea, it got even worse. The 2-1 loss was met with boos on the final whistle, while there were injuries picked up by Petr Cech and Laurent Koscielny, ruling them out of the Spurs match.

Suddenly their whole season seems to rest upon beating Tottenham. It is not simply about picking up three points. It’s about sending out a message to their fans and the rest of the country that Arsenal are not chokers, unable to cope when the pressure is applied. Wenger can say what he wants but actions speak louder than words. Events in 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2014 have shown up the Gunners’ frailties before. Never mind agonising near-misses in May, Arsenal’s title hopes have usually been dashed by the start of April and this season is threatening to go the same way.

Lose and that would be four defeats in a row for the first time since October 2002. But more importantly, they would slip six points adrift of Tottenham with a vastly inferior goal difference and only nine matches to go. And that is regardless of what happens to Leicester, who are at Watford on Saturday teatime. Recovering from that psychological blow would be too hard for a group of players that no one believes to have the required mental toughness.

No one doubts the quality of Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Co, but something needs to change. Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott seem like decent guys, but they have to show that bit of devil on the field. Sadly, the one player who does have that darker streak, Jack Wilshere, is never on the pitch due to his injury problems.

If Arsenal are beaten in N17, the position of Wenger will come under unbearable scrutiny. The dream scenario would be for the Gunners to become Champions in May and for the Frenchman to say ‘Au revoir’ as a league winner once again. The other side of the coin is not a palatable one. If Wenger cannot guide Arsenal to league success when Chelsea imploded before Christmas, United have an identity crisis and Manchester City have been bafflingly sluggish, then perhaps he never will again.

The players have changed during the last 11 seasons without a Premier League title, but the manager has not. Perhaps Wenger is the choker – the man who can’t keep his cool in the pressure moments. And presented with this intoxicating opportunity to be first, Arsenal fans are fed up of Wenger’s stubbornness and the team’s recurring faults of poor defending and a lack of a killer instinct costing them. AGAIN.

For all Arsenal’s flaws under Wenger, one fate that has yet to befall them is to finish below Tottenham in the league. It is now 21 years since Spurs finished above their rivals from N7, but they will never have a better chance. However, far more important than local bickering is the opportunity to be Champions of England for the first time since their glorious Double-winning season of 1960/61.

Since those days of Danny Blanchflower and Dave Mackay, 12 other clubs have won the title. The self-perpetuating myth has developed that Spurs are a cup team, capable of brilliance in a one-off game, but not the consistency over a nine-month period that wins a title. Four defeats in 28 games this season suggests that manager Mauricio Pochettino has started to develop that consistency, but if opportunity is knocking for Arsenal, the same is 100% true for Spurs.

For all the talk of Tottenham being a developing team with Dele Alli and Harry Kane being nowhere near their best, the chance is now. Not next season or in two or three years’ time. While a top-four finish would have been regarded as the height of their ambition back in August, the goalposts have well and truly shifted. To deny that is to admit a fear of failure because in football, tomorrow never comes – it’s all about today.

If the challengers are Leicester with the so-called big boys lying in the roadside, then Pochettino will never have a better chance to get his team over the line. From that point of view, the defeat at West Ham raised a few alarm bells. Spurs had the chance to go top of the table on goal difference, but fell behind early on and never really mounted a convincing recovery. Was it the pressure of what was at stake? Possibly, although that is to detract from West Ham’s fine performance. However, a second defeat in three days to Arsenal would suggest that this is classic Tottenham. Flattering to deceive. AGAIN.

We all know Pep Guardiola’s good, but since when does that guarantee anything?