Monaco beat Spurs 2-1 on Wednesday night and, according to boss, Leonardo Jardim, this was aided by the Ligue 1 club’s 3-1 victory over Arsenal in February 2015.

The Gunners completely underestimated their opposition and Monaco were the better team. Jardim, who had only been a manager for a year when they beat us, compared the two north London teams, claiming that beating Arsenal prepared his team for beating Spurs.

Well, I guess some good had to come out of that traumatic experience.

“Mentally, we redesigned our victory at Arsenal two years ago, in a similar context, a large stadium, a noisy public,” Jardim explained to L’Equipe. 

“This gave us confidence.”

Monaco went 2-0 ahead in the first half through Bernardo Silva (15th) and Thomas Lemar (31st). Although Spurs pulled one back thanks to Toby Alderweireld on the stroke of half time, it was too little too late and the damage was already done.

Monaco are a team to be taken seriously, which is why Arsenal failed two seasons ago. What’s more, is that, as L’Equipe pointed out, they’re even stronger now, full of confidence and currently sit on top of the Ligue 1 table.

They finished third last season, level on points with second place Lyon and although PSG ran away with the title – as they will probably do again this term – it’s not such a forgone conclusion anymore.