All over the world there are footballing rivalries, all having varying degrees of hatred. Some push friendships to breaking point and for others it borders on religious barbarity.
One that rarely gets mentioned in global footballing context however, is the Arsenal/Tottenham rivalry, with both clubs basically next door neighbours in North London.
For a long time Arsenal have had the bragging rights over their fierce rivals; one-up-manship also playing a part, with the Gunners also having built their mega stadium first before Spurs followed over a decade later.
This perhaps is unknown to many, though there is actually an ‘unofficial’ holiday that is celebrated by Arsenal fans called St Totteringham’s Day, which is when it becomes mathematically impossible for Tottenham to catch their rivals; something which has just happened, following Spurs’ defeat to Fulham and Arsenal’s victory over Chelsea.
Arsenal look like they will win the 2025/26 Premier League title and now sit 32 points ahead of their rivals with 10 games remaining. It also means that fans celebrate this occasion earlier than ever before, marking a considerable achievement.
How St Totteringham’s Day Gained Momentum
It was during Arsene Wenger, when Arsenal managed to finish above Spurs for 21 consecutive seasons that this really picked up pace; especially with the help of the internet, which saw the emergence of club fanzines and forms that really helped to spread the message.
When Arsenal won the title at White Hart Lane during the 2003/04 season; the campaign in which they went undefeated in the Premier League and earned the name “The Invincibles”, this really twisted the knife for Spurs fans.
That year, the Gunners swept aside nearly everyone that stood in their way, playing some of the most attractive football the English top flight has seen in the modern era, with the likes’ of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira.
In 2026, the rivalry reached breaking point when, in the 2015/16 season, Tottenham were second for much of the campaign (behind eventual surprise champions Leicester City), before a shock 5-1 defeat by relegated, 10-man Newcastle United allowed Arsenal to leapfrog them.
Under manager, Mauricio Pochettino, Spurs then finished above Arsenal in the 2016/17 campaign for the first time in over two decades, which spectacularly ended the streak. Under Mikel Arteta though, the Gunners have gone up a gear, essentially making second place their own and consistently challenging for the Premier League title.
There has also been a significant amount of controversy between the two clubs over the years; the most memorable, arguably being “Lasagna-gate”, when in 2006, on the morning of a match between the two clubs, several Spurs players fell ill with food poisoning.
That day, Spurs lost to West Ham, Arsenal won and St Totteringham’s Day was celebrated controversially, with some Tottenham fans claiming a conspiracy.
Cultural Significance Of St Totteringham’s Day
Now, with the widespread popularity of social media, messages spread almost instantly to hundreds of thousands of people and this has meant ‘footballing banter’ has become expedited considerably.
Arsenal fans lap it up, especially when club blogs share content about it, such as memes, videos, countdown clocks and digital badges, all of which go viral on Twitter especially which are then sometimes picked up by mainstream media.
Although this is a day that isn’t especially celebrated, you might get a few hardcore Arsenal fans who celebrate down their local pub when it becomes clear that they will finish above their bitter rivals.
