Big crowd spurs Arsenal on
Teams spend a lot of time working on areas they think will give them marginal gains, the little things that will improve your performance by 1% or 2%. After Arsenal eventually got the better of Tottenham’s low block to earn a 1-0 derby victory at a sold-out Emirates, the Gunners’ manager, Jonas Eidevall, was asked whether playing at the club’s main stadia in front of huge crowds was an area that gave them a marginal gain. “I definitely think the culture we have here at the Emirates is a big factor that can be even more important long term,” he said. “It should be able to drive sporting success and generate revenue and investing in the team to generate more sporting success. I am so happy they put one more game at the Emirates [against Leicester].” The Tottenham manager, Robert Vilahamn, pointed to the practical difficulty for teams unfamiliar with playing in front of such large numbers on a regular basis: “The first 10 minutes you don’t hear anything else apart from than their fans, and it’s really tricky to communicate … you need to learn how to use gestures instead of speaking, for example,” he said. Suzanne Wrack
