Martin Keown compares Tottenham duo to east London gangsters ahead of north London derby

Martin Keown has compared Tottenham duo Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Rodrigo Bentancur to a pair of notorious east London gangsters.

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The Arsenal legend shared his thoughts on Spurs ahead of Saturday’s crucial north London derby as the league leaders host their unbeaten fierce rivals.

Hojbjerg has started and played 90 minutes across all of Spurs’ Premier League games this season, with Antonio Conte’s side winning five and drawing two.

Fellow midfielder Bentancur, who registered a goal and assist against Leicester City last week, has started six of those seven games and only missed the draw with West Ham through a head injury, with Tottenham now third in the league.

Keown feels the Spurs duo were ‘like the Kray twins’ – a pair of East End gangsters known for their organised crime in London from the late 1950s until 1967.

Quizzed about the importance of aggression in the north London derby and if Arsenal players were ‘too nice’, Keown said: ‘You could say that the two midfield players for Tottenham are like the Kray twins.

‘The way they get around the pitch, their tackles, if you look at the [Bentancur] goal they scored against Leicester when they stole the ball.

<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>Rodrigo Bentancur grabs his first goal for Spurs! 1ï¸â£ A gift from Ndidi ð pic.twitter.com/vdjRNQXero

‘I think Hojbjerg is massively underrated. The manager believes that he needs those enforcers in that area.

‘You could say that Arsenal are more artistic, more creative. But you need to be tough as well. I think that comes from their defenders.

‘I think William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes are hard men, they’re building a reputation.’

Both Arsenal and Tottenham have enjoyed strong starts to the season