‘Why’s that a thing?’: Thierry Henry shares what he never understood about Tottenham when he joined Arsenal

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Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has admitted that he didn’t fully understand the rivalry the club had with Tottenham when he first signed.

Speaking on the podcast Seaman Says, Henry said that his country France simply didn’t have similar rivalries at the time.

Henry shared that he couldn’t quite grasp why Arsenal cared about a club not competing with them in the league table.

Henry said: “I never understood why people cared about Spurs when I arrived at Arsenal.

“Because I was like ‘we don’t have those derbies in France really, Nice v Monaco – yeah it is a derby – but we don’t have a lot of teams that are in the same town.

“So it’s always a 100km thing. So I arrive and everyone was like ‘we have to beat Spurs’ and I was like ‘those guys finished 11th’.

“Without being cocky, I was like why is that a thing? Who cares? They are not good. You look up, I don’t see them!”

Undoubtedly a lot of Arsenal fans will find Henry’s comments quite amusing.

However, the battle for bragging rights in North London has certainly heated up in recent years.

Henry couldn’t understand why Arsenal cared about Tottenham when he first signed

Although neither side were particularly having a lot of success, the rivals have been swapping league positions much more regularly.

And despite Henry not taking too much notice of Tottenham when arriving, Arsenal have had to of late.

However, in a new era under Mikel Arteta Arsenal do now look clear of their local rivals.

Tottenham failed to progress during Antonio Conte’s tenure at the club.

And despite early signs looking very positive under Ange Postecoglou, there’s a lot of catch up to be done.

Arsenal will be hoping they can cement their spot as title challengers year on year this season and will look to secure the trophy itself.

And in fairness, Henry’s Tottenham comments wouldn’t look too out of place for a player signing for Arsenal today.

The power has shifted back towards Arsenal, but they’ve got a lot of work to do to maintain it.