Shortly before kick-off here, James Maddison announced on Sky Sports that this was a bad time to play Spurs. Arsenal, Maddison explained with a patient smile, would be regretting the timing of this north London derby, would in effect already be afraid, already losing that small but significant battle. So, like, that’s just the way it is.
Even better, Maddison explained all this while sitting in a private box decorated with a bespoke Maddison mural featuring assorted Maddison mottos and Maddison logos plus a huge picture of his own dog. “Yeah, they said you can decorate it how you want,” he explained. “My question was, where’s the line …?”
