Mauricio Pochettino said this week he would like to stay at Tottenham Hotspur for as long as Arsene Wenger has been at Arsenal and performances like the one Spurs produced in the 1-1 draw at the Emirates on Saturday can only help his cause.
Tottenham, who so often come to the Emirates and leave with their cockerel feathers in tatters, showed true battling spirit and made the short journey home with a well-deserved point from a typically entertaining north London derby.
Wenger celebrates 18 years as Arsenal's boss on Wednesday while Pochettino has been Spurs manager for only three months.
This was Wenger's 44th derby against Spurs - and he has only lost six - and Pochettino's first.
While the young Argentine coach admitted that Spurs are still developing their style under his philosophy, which produced some excellent results at Southampton last season, he was hugely encouraged by the way they played.
"Today we showed that we could compete with a big team like Arsenal and this is a good point for us," said Pochettino. "I am happy.
"Younes Kaboul played like a real captain today and we really competed. Perhaps we still need to improve our style, but we have time.
"Arsene Wenger has been in charge here for 18 years and I have been here three months, and we can improve. But I loved this first derby. It was great.
"Amazing stadium, great atmosphere. Maybe we could have held on to win the game, but in the end I think a draw was a fair result."
IMPROVED PERFORMANCE
Tottenham, who have only won one match at Arsenal since 1993, gave a vastly improved performance following their lacklustre display when they were beaten 1-0 at home by West Bromwich Albion last week.
Although Arsenal, who remain unbeaten in the league with two wins and four draws, dominated possession, Spurs defended superbly and counter-attacked with real threat when they did break, although they only had six shots.
Their opening goal after 56 minutes from Nacer Chadli came after they pressurised Arsenal into making a mistake in their own half, and the only time they faltered in defence was when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain smashed home Arsenal's equaliser with 17 minutes remaining.
Wenger, who rarely has a good word to say for his neighbours, found fault with them for time-wasting, but also applauded their defensive work.
"I can't remember having so much possession against a Tottenham team since I was here, but they defended well. To give them credit I think Younes Kaboul and Jan Vertonghen and Hugo Lloris all played well."
Arsenal may have had plenty of the ball, and put Tottenham under pressure, but they rarely created real scoring chances of their own.
Calum Chambers fired over the bar and Per Mertesacker forced a good save from Lloris with a powerful header which the Goal Decision System showed did not cross the line.
For once, though, Tottenham were not out-played and outmanoeuvred by their old adversaries.
As Pochettino said: "Our strategy was to be compact and play deep. If you give us Arsenal space to play they will. It worked today and we know the way to go."
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