Arsenal face test of Champions League aspirations against Spurs in North London derby

Ahead of his 13th North London derby as an Arsenal manager or player, Mikel Arteta thought the team-talk needed something fresh, arresting. So he turned to the long-serving club photographer Stuart MacFarlane. He is a familiar face to the players. His job means he knows their faces intimately.

So last September, MacFarlane stood in front of the tactics board in the dressing room at the Emirates Stadium and addressed the players. He spoke as a fan, emotional, urgent, gritty in some of his language, spelling out what this fixture meant to his fellow supporters assembled in the seats above.

On the faces he knows so well he saw a mixture of reactions to his words: Some clenched-jawed smiles, some deep, concentrated stares. Not all footballers are alike, but something was triggered by the unusual device Arteta had chosen to motivate them. By the 34th minute, Arsenal were 3-0 up against Tottenham Hotspur.

Arteta will not, most likely, ask MacFarlane to make a speech on Saturday, when Spurs visit for the first derby of a very different autumn. Novel tricks tend to have an impact only once, and, besides, the mood among Arsenal’s players is less in need of a sudden, startling boost.

Ahead of the equivalent fixture last year, a poor start to the campaign had left Arsenal in the bottom half of the Premier League table. This September, Arsenal are top, and, should they repeat last season’s home triumph over Spurs – it finished 3-1 –they would go four points clear of second-placed Manchester City.

From that elevated vantage point Arsenal fans dare to anticipate at least a top four finish that would bring Champions League football to their elegant stadium for the first time since 2017, an era when the team-talks were still being