Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta claims Tottenham given an unfair advantage in North London derby

According to the Mirror, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has claimed that Tottenham Hotspur have been handed an unfair advantage ahead of the North London Derby later this month.

Tottenham travel to the Emirates Stadium to take on Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday, March 14th. The fixture is sandwiched between our UEFA Europa League Round of 16 two-legged affair against Dinamo Zagreb.

As per the earlier schedule, Tottenham were to face Zagreb away from home in the first leg next week before taking on the Croatian outfit at home the subsequent week. But as that fixture clashed with Arsenal’s Europa League home leg against Olympiacos, UEFA swapped Tottenham’s fixtures.

Meaning we now face Dinamo at home in the coming week, three days before the North London derby, while Arsenal will be travelling to Greece on the same night. This has left Arteta displeased, claiming that Jose Mourinho & co. have been handed an advantage.

“Unfortunately it’s not going to change. We can raise our voices and we should do that because we want to have two teams playing in equal conditions.

“But the decision has been made and that’s it. I don’t want to use one bit of excuse going towards that game saying ‘oh, they have an advantage’. So no, probably I will use that to take it in our advantage. And that’s it.”

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Tottenham and Arsenal are currently eighth and tenth in the Premier League table respectively, separated by just two points as things stand, albeit Mourinho’s men have a game in hand.

The first North London derby of the season saw Tottenham beat the Gunners 2-0 with Harry Kane and Son Heung-min scoring. Hopefully, there is a repeat of the same at the Emirates next week.