Gilberto Silva boasted such a dominant north London derby report that he even armed Tottenham with the instruments to beat Arsenal.
The Brazilian by no means misplaced to the Gunners’ rivals throughout 11 Premier League video games, a feat solely bettered by fellow Invincible, Kolo Toure.
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The 2002 World Cup winner spent six years in north London, the spotlight of which stays Arsenal’s invincible crew of 2004.
Nevertheless, one other core staple of his tenure in England was the membership’s dominant report over their neighbours beneath Arsene Wenger.
Silva arrived at Arsenal off the again of his World Cup win and helped proceed a nine-year stretch with no defeat to Tottenham.
Satirically, it was his closing look towards Spurs that his epic run got here to an finish – a 5-1 League Cup semi-final second-leg hammering in 2008.
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That proved to be the Lilywhites’ first victory within the fixture since a 2-1 win at White Hart Lane in November 1999.
Nonetheless, Silva, whose loss to Spurs got here on the 14th time of asking, left Arsenal along with his unbeaten Premier League report intact.
Regardless of his historical past within the well-known fixture, former Tottenham star Sandro confirmed the 49-year-old helped persuade him to hitch Spurs.
The 36-year-old, who turned out for Harborough City final 12 months, advised talkSPORT in 2023 that Silva performed a job in him shifting to England when he first broke into the senior Brazil aspect.
Throughout an unique interview with talkSPORT.com, by way of On line casino.Guru, Silva confirmed that it was certainly the case and gave his the explanation why.
“I’ve all the time needed Brazilian gamers to come back and play in England,” he mentioned. “I consider I used to be taking part in in the perfect league on this planet, the Premier League, and I talked to him (Sandro) about coming to London.”
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Gilberto Silva satisfied Sandro to hitch Spurs
“I mentioned, ‘Hear, you’re doing nice in Brazil, there’s a good alternative so that you can be right here’,” Silva added to talkSPORT.com.
“At the moment, we did not have so many Brazilians within the league as we’ve immediately, so it was essential, in my view, simply to ascertain the Brazilian gamers within the nation.”
Silva turned solely the fourth Brazilian to play for Arsenal when he joined, with Sandro paradoxically the corresponding quantity for Spurs.
He continued: “I all the time needed to assist Brazilians as a result of I understand how essential it was for me arriving in a brand new nation and having the help of my good friend Edu [Gaspar].
“He was crucial for me once I got here to the membership, he supported me on a regular basis, helped me like an enormous brother.
“Once I had a chance to speak to Sandro, I attempted to duplicate the identical factor, regardless of the actual fact we have been taking part in towards one another.
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“After we did face one another on the sphere, he defended his crew; I defend my crew. I need to beat him; I need to win.
“And this was the fact. However to have extra Brazilians within the league is all the time a very good factor for me.”
Sandro sealed a transfer to Spurs in September 2010 and, as destiny would have it, made his debut of their 4-1 League Cup defeat to Arsenal.
But two months later, Tottenham gained at Arsenal for the primary time in 17 years with a 3-2 triumph on the Emirates, with Brazil’s Heurelho Gomes in purpose.
Sandro then featured within the membership’s unbeaten 2011 within the derby, a dramatic 3-3 attract April, adopted by a 2-1 scalp that October.
Over a decade later, Brazilians will line up on each groups on the Emirates in Arsenal’s newest conflict with Tottenham on Sunday.
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Richarlison is predicted to guide the road for the guests, with Gabriel Martinelli probably coming back from damage.
However their countryman, Gabriel Magalhaes, has been dominated out.
Gabriel shall be sidelined for ‘weeks’ as Mikel Arteta revealed extra particulars on his hamstring damage.
“It is clearly a blow,” Arteta mentioned. “It is our chief in our backline.
“To overlook him isn’t a constructive factor. The great factor is we’ve some excellent choices. They should arise now.”
