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The Spurs boss coached both David Raya and Christian Norgaard at Brentford. The pair now play for Arsenal
George SessionsFriday 21 November 2025 23:20 GMT
CloseThomas Frank gives honest assessment of Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven
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Tottenham boss Thomas Frank plans to get the better of the “two traitors” in the Arsenal squad in Sunday’s North London derby, adding that is warning his team to prepare for a “madhouse” fixture.
Spurs boast a poor recent record in the north London derby, and make the trip to the Emirates Stadium this weekend in search of only their second win there since it opened 19 years ago.
Nevertheless, it is a game which often provides drama and excitement in equal measure.
Frank claimed a point at Arsenal last season with Brentford and his first ever Premier League fixture in 2021 ended with a memorable 2-0 triumph.
But two members of his starting line-up that night, David Raya and Christian Norgaard, are now in the Arsenal ranks.
open image in galleryFrank and Raya embrace during their Brentford days (AP)Reminded of that and the frenetic nature of this fixture, Frank smiled: “Two of them are now traitors and moved to the wrong club!
“The interesting thing is that probably both Mikel and I would like a little bit more control, but it will probably be a madhouse and very, very enjoyable to watch for the outside people or fans.
“I expect a difficult game of course, but a game that can go anywhere and anything can happen in games like that. Everything also evens out a little bit more because it’s so competitive and the atmosphere in the stadium
open image in galleryNorgaard also played under Frank at Brentford (Action Images via Reuters)“Definitely embrace controlled chaos or chaos we like to create if that makes sense, because chaos can also be good. It can be too disruptive, or too fixed and too stop-start, so we need a bit of chaos.
“And chaos can be transitions, high-pressure and set-piece second phases and all them areas are of course areas we would like to exploit if we can.
“We will never go for a 0-0. It maybe will end 0-0 but we will always try to win. Always, always, always.”
Set-pieces are expected to be decisive with Arsenal way out in front with 12 goals from corners and free-kicks in the division this season.
Tottenham have also been productive with five in the Premier League after Frank hired Andreas Georgson as set-piece coach this summer.
Georgson worked with Frank at Brentford and Arsenal’s set-piece guru Nicolas Jover also started out under the Danish coach in west London.
“Both of them are very curious, both want to learn and develop constantly by studying the game of set-pieces so in that way they are quite the same mindset in many ways,” Frank reflected.
open image in gallerySpurs, like Arsenal, have excelled at set pieces this season and much of that success is owed to Andreas Georgson, right (Reuters/Andrew Boyers)“So, in that they are quite similar. One is Swedish, the other French so a little bit different temper!
“Mikel and I with our coaching staffs will have a battle – how can we get the upper hand? And it will be the same with Nicolas and Andreas.”
“I’m pretty sure the bits I’ve done at Brentford have inspired a lot of clubs to focus more on set-pieces and it is quite interesting that this year I go from Brentford to Tottenham, the spike in focus on set-pieces for all the teams, especially the long throws, is crazy.
“It seems like everyone are very, very focused on them, which we should be. They’re a third of our goals. So why not be very good in that phase, and very good in high pressure. We need to be good in many phases.”
