Ex-Tottenham Hotspur man, Kieran Trippier, has revealed that Arsenal were not the biggest derby opponents for him as a player during his North London days.
Trippier played 114 games for Spurs across four seasons and was an integral part of the side that made back-to-back title pushes in 2016 and 2017, as well as reaching the Champions League Final in 2019 (Wikipedia).
The Atletico Madrid right-back instead argued that he and a number of other Spurs players saw Chelsea as the bigger derby day match in the footballing calendar.
While the North London Derby has long since been one of the highlights of the Premier League season, Chelsea and Spurs have endured a troubled past five years.
The Battle of the Bridge denied Tottenham extending their title charge on Leicester City back in 2016, before Chelsea beat Spurs to the Premier League trophy the following year.
In an appearance on The Beautiful Game Podcast, Trippier revealed that, despite Arsenal being bigger opponents for fans, he controversially saw Chelsea as the bigger game.
When asked how the Madrid derby compares to the NLD, Trippier said: “When I played for Tottenham, I felt like, no disrespect to Arsenal, but I don’t feel that was our main derby, I feel that Chelsea were.
MORE SPURS STORIES
“I just felt like, I don’t know, just the emotion probably… don’t get me wrong, Tottenham Arsenal is huge obviously to the fans because, it is what it is with them.
“But, as a player, I felt like for me and I know some of the other players, the Chelsea game was a bigger game.”
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
