{"id":2667,"date":"2026-04-18T04:22:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T04:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/updatelive.online\/?p=2667"},"modified":"2026-04-18T04:22:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T04:22:24","slug":"a-north-london-walk-of-woe-assessing-the-current-mood-of-arsenal-and-spurs-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/updatelive.online\/?p=2667","title":{"rendered":"A north London walk of woe: Assessing the current mood of Arsenal and Spurs fans"},"content":{"rendered":"


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These are seismic and unsettled times in north London.<\/p>\n

At one end of the Seven Sisters Road, Tottenham Hotspur are staring down the barrel of a shock relegation, which would rank as one the biggest under-performances in the history of the English top flight.<\/p>\n

Another home defeat when they play Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday evening would edge Spurs one step closer to the Championship.<\/p>\n

At the other, Arsenal are continuing to chase an historic double, with Mikel Arteta\u2019s side heading into this weekend six points clear at the top of the Premier League table and into a Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid.<\/p>\n

And yet the mood among Arsenal fans is anxious ahead of Sunday\u2019s visit to Manchester City, which is widely billed as a title decider.<\/p>\n

After last weekend\u2019s home defeat to Bournemouth, memories of three consecutive second-place finishes and previous collapses from positions of strength are back at the forefront of their supporters\u2019 minds.<\/p>\n

To gauge the mood, The Athletic<\/em> sent Dan Kilpatrick, a Spurs fan, and Arsenal supporter Nnamdi Onyeagwara to north London to see which club is feeling the heat more\u2026<\/p>\n\n

Comfort among the enemy<\/h2>\n

Strange to say it, but there\u2019s an odd comfort to being at the Emirates, surrounded by Arsenal fans.<\/p>\n

On the face of it, now more than ever, any Spurs supporter should want to run a mile from this place.<\/p>\n

Bragging rights in north London have never been more one-sided and it is increasingly plausible \u2013 probable, even? \u2013 that Spurs will be relegated in the same season as Arsenal win a first league title in 23 years. It could even happen concurrently, and they would have to invent a whole new Saint\u2019s day for that.<\/p>\n

Yet being among the enemy is comforting because as a Spurs fan who has nearly lost hope, Arsenal are all I have left. They are rattling, deliciously, and there is a whiff of paranoia unique to Arsenal in the air ahead of their Champions League quarter final decider against Sporting CP \u2013 which is followed by Sunday\u2019s six-pointer at City.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could bottle it,\u201d acknowledges Cem, an Arsenal supporter and podcaster who has arrived early for the Sporting game despite not having a ticket (which somehow feels very Arsenal to me).<\/p>\n

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\n Arsenal progressed through to the Champions League semi-finals this week, but not very convincingly (Mike Hewitt\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Another Arsenal collapse would take the edge off a first Spurs relegation since 1977, and we could yet manage to have the last laugh for the second season in a row. It\u2019s one hell of a drug, schadenfreude, and a powerful alternative to hope.<\/p>\n

The feeling, though, appears to be mutual. The Arsenal fans milling around the Emirates are clear that a Spurs relegation would soften the blow of another second-place finish.<\/p>\n

Nnamdi and I get a more mixed reaction when asking fans if there is a part of them that doesn\u2019t want Spurs to go down. For Cem, it\u2019s five per cent (he has family members who are Spurs) and another Arsenal fan, Dozie, says there\u2019s no part of him that wants to see their rivals in the Championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want them to be giving us six points every season,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Nnamdi feels like a good barometer of the mood, too preoccupied by his own team \u2014 and Sunday \u2014 to take much enjoyment from Spurs\u2019 current plight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoyed it a lot more last season,\u201d he says. \u201cThen the Europa League (win for Spurs) was a gut punch. This year I\u2019ve been (like), \u2018Let\u2019s focus on ourselves\u2019. And if Spurs go down it\u2019s a bonus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s obviously joy in certain defeats (for Spurs) but when it\u2019s coupled up with (Arsenal) losing to Bournemouth, it\u2019s hard to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Spurs\u2019 Europa League win last season was a gut punch for Arsenal fans (JUSTIN TALLIS\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

He has been a gracious companion for our visit to north London. Earlier at Spurs, where we tried and failed to find fans who would talk to us, he complimented the stadium. Easy to do from a position of strength.<\/p>\n

He is, though, desperate for Spurs to go down and wouldn\u2019t miss the rivalry because \u201cin the age we\u2019re in, and the social media culture, the (Manchester) United rivalry, the Chelsea rivalry, the City rivalry have got a lot more heated than they were\u201d. (Sorry Nnamdi but this also feels very Arsenal to me).<\/p>\n

Spending the afternoon with an Arsenal fan has clarified something: obvious to say, perhaps, but there is a different kind of dread surrounding the clubs.<\/p>\n

At Spurs, it is bleak and existential, borne of your club facing an irreversible stain and humiliation, and being plunged into the unknown.<\/p>\n

At Arsenal there is lingering paranoia, which may yet translate to the players, but it is laced with excitement \u2014 expectation, even.<\/p>\n