The North London derby takes place on Sunday as Spurs come up against Arsenal. This will be a very special derby as it will be the first of Gunners boss Unai Emery who replaced Arsene Wenger during the summer after the Frenchman led the club for 22-years.
Even though they will be coming up against each other, the two managers share a good relationship and Pochettino is not going to let the game affect that.
In fact, Emery once suggested to the board of Valencia that Pochettino replace him as manager of the La Liga club when the Spaniard left to manage Spartak Moscow in 2012. Pochettino declined the offer in order to remain at Espanyol at the time but such as gesture would off course have been touching.
This derby also has the makings of a blockbuster. Pochettino’s troops have dominated the recent meetings between the two sides, Arsenal have been in form this season and have vastly improved from last season.
Speaking ahead of the game, Pochettino insisted that even though he will be competing against Emery, the game will not affect their relationship.
He said as quoted by The Telegraph:
“The opposite I think,”
“Of course we are in different clubs and it is a derby we are going to play.
“In the moment we are going to compete, we are going to try to find the way to beat each other but before and after the game (we are) always very good friends.”
