North London Derby

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The first meeting between the two teams was a friendly on 19 November 1887, when Arsenal were located in Plumstead and known as Royal Arsenal. The match, played at Spurs' ground at Tottenham Marshes, was abandoned 15 minutes before it was due to end 'owing to darkness' with Spurs winning 2–1. The first completed match was held the following February in Plumstead; Tottenham could only field nine players and were beaten 6–2. The two teams competed together in the United League starting in the 1896–97 season; the first meeting in competition was on 2 November 1896, Arsenal winning 2–1. Another notable match was in 1898 played at the Spurs ground at Northumberland Park, attended by a record crowd of 15,000, where the refreshment stand collapsed. The first League match between the clubs was in the First Division on 4 December 1909; Arsenal won 1–0. The rivalry escalated in 1919 when Arsenal were elected to the First Division over Tottenham after a vote. The first fully competitive derby match after Arsenal's 1913 move to north London was a First Division match that finished 2–1 to Tottenham on 15 January 1921 at White Hart Lane. In 1935 Arsenal registered its biggest ever win over Spurs in a 6–0 rout away at White Hart Lane. Since 1950, there has only been one season (1977–78) where Tottenham and Arsenal have not been in the same division.

In Their Own Story

The first Football League meeting between the teams came in the 1894–95 season, Newton Heath beating Manchester City 5–2 at Hyde Road. In the late 1890s, Scottish brothers Billy and Matthew Gillespie played on opposite sides in the fixture on three occasions. The first meeting between the clubs to take place at the highest level of English football occurred in December 1906, a 3–0 City win in a First Division match for which the gate receipts exceeded £1,000, a very large figure for the era. At this time City were suffering the after-effects of a financial scandal in which the club were found guilty of making off-balance sheet payments to players. As a result, seventeen players were suspended and banned from ever representing the club again, including the core of the team which had won the 1904 FA Cup. When the suspensions ended in January 1907, four players (Jimmy Bannister, Herbert Burgess, Billy Meredith and Sandy Turnbull) joined United, where they helped United gain their first league title in 1908. In contrast to modern antipathy, the transfers were generally welcomed for helping a fellow Manchester club. The following season Turnbull became the first player to be sent off in a derby. Before the Second World War, many football supporters in Manchester watched City one week and United the next. After the war, a stronger rivalry developed and following both teams became uncommon.

Reader's Guide

As of 22 February 2026, 199 games have been played between the two teams since their first game in the Football League in 1909, with 86 wins for Arsenal, 62 wins for Tottenham and 52 games drawn. When games played before both joined the Football League are included, 213 games have been played, with Arsenal winning 91, Tottenham 68, and 55 drawn. Notable matches include Arsenal winning the league at White Hart Lane in 1971 and their invincible campaign in 2004, Tottenham beating Arsenal 5–0 at home in 1983 and Arsenal winning by the same score away in 1978, and Tottenham beating Arsenal 3–1 at the semi-final of the 1990–91 FA Cup. The highest-scoring game is the 5–4 win by Arsenal at White Hart Lane in November 2004. The fixture's top scorer is Harry Kane with fourteen goals, having overtaken Bobby Smith and Emmanuel Adebayor, who have ten goals each. Arsenal play their home games at the Emirates Stadium in Islington, while Tottenham Hotspur are based at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the neighbouring borough of Haringey. The two stadiums are 4 miles (6.4 km) apart.

Did You Know?

• The first meeting between the two teams was a friendly on 19 November 1887, abandoned 15 minutes early due to darkness with Spurs leading 2–1.
• Arsenal's biggest win over Spurs is 6–0 away at White Hart Lane in 1935.
• The highest-scoring North London derby is Arsenal's 5–4 win at White Hart Lane in November 2004.
• Harry Kane is the all-time top scorer in the derby with 14 goals.