Mathieu Flamini is no stranger to a north London derby and has tried to put the buzz around the day into words ahead of our clash with Spurs on Sunday.

Flamini is probably one of the only foreign players in our squad who truly understands what a north London derby is. This is his second stint at the club and he’s played in multiple games against Spurs.

Most recently, the midfielder put two goals past our closest rivals in the Capital One Cup to put us through to the next round.

“It is difficult to explain… it is something you want to experience because any words won’t explain how you feel,” the boss said.

“It is a power, an energy, an electricity and something that drives you crazy. When you are on the pitch, I am talking about adrenaline and it’s exactly that. Some people jump from a plane to get this adrenaline, others go to the stadium. It is something you want to experience, not just see on TV.

“The ingredients [of a great rivalry] is first of all a winning mentality. When you play against a rival, what you want most of all is to win it. After, of course the fans are very much involved because they are part of it, you want to win and you play against another big club with a lot of history and you want to prove that you are better than the other one.

“It is important to remember the past, because if you don’t know anything about it how do you know where you want to go?

“You have to take into consideration what happened before, the history of both clubs… all of that helps you understand the mindset you need to be in, and how important the game is, and how much you need to want to win it.”

It’s doubtful that Flamini will start in this Sunday’s match as Coquelin currently has that first team position. However, you never know with Wenger and he might throw in a little curve ball and start him, purely because of his experience and performance last time we faced them.

Regardless of whether he starts, I’m sure he’ll be in dressing room getting everyone pumped up beforehand.