COYS! Do you believe that Tottenham have any intention of helping Arsenal against Man City?

So, for day one only Arsenal fans support Tottenham. Yet for Gooners of a certain age it actually won’t be the first time!

In 1999 we needed an even bigger favour off our next-door neighbour.

Whereas Man City can win at the Lane tonight, and we still have hope on Sunday, on the final day of the 1998-99 season our only chance of retaining our title was to better Man United’s result. The only issue being who were the visitors to Old Trafford that afternoon …. Spurs!

There’s been plenty of talk of the home sides motivation this evening. Some of it is banter, although Ange Postecoglou is wrong when he says ‘100 per cent’ of Spurs supporters want Spurs to get three points. It genuinely will not shock me if any away goal gets cheered by the home crowd.

Their manager has rightfully acted offended by the notion that his team’s integrity would be questioned, yet to show you it’s not just fans who think like this, Martin Keown was so concerned 25 years ago that he contacted his former assistant coach Stewart Houston for reassurance.

Houston was now working at the Lane with George Graham and was ‘amazed he (Keown) even had to ask’.

Yet over two decades later our ex-defender still has his conspiracy theory. He told TalkSport: “We saw Spurs had gone in front and maybe they looked at that and thought we’re going to help Arsenal win the league.

Their second-half performance was awful. They lost the game and Andy Cole scored a very good goal, you have to say. But he was allowed so much time and space it was ridiculous. John Scales should be ashamed.”

Les Ferdinand almost looked sheepish when scoring, embarrassed to celebrate. The striker has since confirmed that players very much care about the rivalry as much as supporters,

“I was just thinking, ‘This could go down in history as the worst move of my career’,

It was definitely running through my mind. I remember scoring that goal and there being quite a subdued reaction.

That then prompted my celebrations to be quite subdued. I wasn’t one to go crazy anyway.”

To be fair, Mr Ferdinand was a boy hood Spurs fan.

Villa’s draw with Liverpool does mean Spurs can still finish top 4 so at least they have incentive to win. It would be financially irresponsible to not try and win. Try telling Daniel Levy it’s worth sacrificing Champions League revenue for the sake of bragging rights. It would be a sackable offense if any of his employees thought that way. Trust me though, those in the stands would be less sure where their priorities lie.