Ange Postecoglou says he is not paying attention to the history books as he prepares for his first north London derby as Spurs boss when they travel to face Arsenal on Sunday.
Nothing separates the London clubs in the table as both teams sit on 13 points after five games played but there are stark contrast in the recent history of the fixture.
Spurs have not won at the Emirates for 13 years, but Postecoglou is aware of the record and said: “I have never put too much stock on previous records, previous history, because I certainly wasn’t involved in any of those and some of the players weren’t involved, so there is no point in us reflecting on the historical context of the fixture.
He added: “What is more relevant is they are in good form; we are in good form, and we want to go out there and try to play our football against them.”
Life under the Aussie has a breath of fresh air for Spurs fans, who are seeing a new expansive brand of football that has softened the blow of Harry Kane’s departure to Bayern Munich in the summer.
Spurs have scored 13 goals – the third highest in the league – and have conceded just five goals which makes them the third best defence in the league.
England captain Kane scored 14 goals in this fixture and Postecoglou was asked if Spurs will miss him on Saturday.
“I’ve been really pleased with the way the lads have tackled the task of us being a real attacking threat from all areas of our game and so that people don’t see a glaring gap there,” he concluded.
“But you are still trying to replace arguably the greatest player this club has ever had who still was making a very, very significant contribution. The opportunity for the void to be there is there all the time, but we’ve managed that well so far.”
