CHRISTIAN ROMERO deepened his affection from the Tottenham faithful with the way he referred to rivals Arsenal.
The Gunners sit top of the league going into Sunday’s North London derby.
Christian Romero refused to name Arsenal in a recent interviewGetty
ReutersBut he admitted the importance of winning the game on Sunday[/caption]
However, as with any derby, form can go out the window, and Romero seems intent to make that happen.
And he started this off with some mind games in an interview, in which he refused to name Arsenal, instead simply using “them” to refer to Mikel Arteta’s side.
Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of the derby, he said: “I think we can come back from this far back (11 points behind). But there’s a lot of work we need to do, using everything we’ve got.
“If you’re top of the league, you deserve to be there and that’s where they are. But we want to be there ourselves.
“We know we need to improve a lot of things, but we are working hard thinking about us, not them.”
With him refusing to name Arsenal, Spurs fans were enamoured by Romero.
Taking to Twitter, one user said: “That’s our boy.”
A second user declared: “I love this man.”
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A third said: “Good don’t even speak there name ”
“He just keeps getting better,” added another.
While the form book may point towards an Arsenal victory, they have not won away at Spurs since 2014 – when manager Arteta was at the heart of midfield.
A loss in the clash would see Spurs simultaneously lose ground on the top four race and go 14 points behind their North London neighbours.
And despite not naming Arsenal once Romero was full of praise for the league leaders, also admitting the importance of a win.
He said: “If I have to say something about them, they’ve got a strong squad.
“They are in an important moment in what they’ve been building for years and we can see that, at the moment, they’re doing well. For us, we’re in a position where we still need to grow.
“This game is important. We need to win it. We need the result. It will be hard, but I believe in our team. Between us, we’re always motivated. It’s not only just with the derby, even though it’s a very important game.
“The Premier League is difficult, there are many strong squads you play where you have to be 100 per cent for. If not, you can’t play in this climate.
“We know this season has been a bit up and down, we have to say it, but we hope to win. We will do everything to win this game at home.”