North London derby: Players to have crossed the Arsenal-Tottenham divide

Star names to have played for Arsenal and Tottenham

All eyes will be on north London this weekend as Arsenal go head to head with arch rivals Tottenham in one of England’s biggest derbies.

Although there are plenty of examples of players crossing the divide on Merseyside, Manchester and between the Old Firm clubs, there have only been 15 that have dared to play for both the Gunners and Spurs.

Ahead of Sunday’s match at the Emirates Stadium, we’re taking a look at the most recent.

Pat Jennings (Tottenham 1964-77; Arsenal 1977-85)

The mild-mannered goalkeeper joined Watford from Newry, but spent just one season at the Third Division club before making a £27,000 move to Tottenham in June 1964.

The Northern Ireland international spent 13 years at White Hart Lane and went on to clock 590 appearances, third behind Steve Perryman (854) and Gary Mabbutt (611).

Jennings is forever remembered for scoring in the 1967 Charity Shield with a long punt which bounced over Manchester United goalkeeper Alex Stepney.

Spurs were relegated to the Second Division in 1977 and Jennings was subsequently sold to rivals Arsenal where he spent eight seasons, making 237 league appearances and 327 overall.

Jennings won the FA Cup in 1979 and four years later became the first player in English football to make 1,000 senior appearances. His last game for the Gunners came against Sheffield Wednesday in November 1984, although he made a brief return to Tottenham to play mainly in their reserves team to aid his match sharpness ahead of the 1986 World Cup where he played in the finals despite having retired from club football.

Sol Campbell (Tottenham 1992-2001; Arsenal 2001-06 and 2010)

Campbell started his professional career with Tottenham in 1992 and scored on his debut as a substitute in a 2-1 defeat at home to Chelsea, although manager Terry Venables did not pick him again that season.

Osvaldo Ardiles, Venables’ replacement, played him in both full-back positions throughout the season and he impressed enough to sign a four-year contract at the end of the 1993-94 campaign.

Campbell missed three months of the 2000-01 campaign with a shoulder injury and made his final appearance for the club in the FA Cup semi-final defeat by Arsenal at Old Trafford.

In total, the England defender spent nine seasons with Spurs, scoring 15 goals in 315 appearances in all competitions and he captained the side that won the League Cup in 1999.

Despite offering him a new contract which would have made him the highest paid player at the club, Campbell left to join Arsenal on a free transfer in order to fulfil his ambition of playing Champions League football despite giving an interview with Spurs Monthly during which he said he would never play for the Gunners.

Campbell spent five successful seasons at Arsenal where he won the Premier League twice, the FA Cup three times and headed in the opening goal against Barcelona in the 2006 Champions League final which they went on to lose.

The centre-back spent three seasons at Portsmouth and then League Two side Notts County where ex-England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson was director of football, but surprisingly rejoined Arsenal in January 2010, making 14 appearances and scoring once but joined Newcastle in the summer before announcing his retirement in May 2012.

William Gallas (Arsenal 2006-10; Tottenham 2010-13)

The France defender joined Arsenal from Chelsea on transfer deadline day in 2006 in an acrimonious move which saw Ashley Cole head to Stamford Bridge.

Despite being a defender, Gallas took Dennis Bergkamp’s number 10 shirt and scored three goals in his debut season.

A year later Gallas surprisingly replaced Thierry Henry as skipper following his move to Barcelona, although he was stripped of the captaincy in November 2008 over disparaging comments made about the team to French media.

Instead of sulking, Gallas produced one of his best seasons alongside Kolo Toure in central defence and then later with 2009 summer signing Thomas Vermaelen.

Gallas struggled with a calf injury in the second half of the 2009-10 season and aggravated the problem in his comeback game against Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-final, his final game for the club where he spent four seasons, scoring 17 goals in 142 appearances overall.

The defender left the club on a free transfer after the parties failed to agree a new deal and he made the unpopular decision to join Spurs on a one-year contract, a move defended by manager Harry Redknapp, who said: “What’s he done? It’s not the Yorkshire Ripper I’m signing, is it? He’s a footballer.”

In his debut season, Gallas captained Spurs for the first time against Arsenal at the Emirates following injuries to regular skippers Ledley King and Michael Dawson. Spurs famously overcame a 2-0 half-time deficit to win the game 3-2, their first win at Arsenal since 1993.

His strong form saw Gallas handed a new two-year deal and he left the club in 2013 after making 78 appearances and scoring just once, against his former club Chelsea in his final season.

Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal 2006-09; Tottenham 2012-15)

Adebayor became a fans’ favourite following his £3m move from Monaco in January 2006.

The striker carried the burden left by Henry’s move to Barcelona and injuries to Robin van Persie and Eduardo, scoring 30 goals in 40 starts during his best campaign in 2007-8 when his volley against Tottenham was Match of the Day’s goal of the season.

After four seasons with the club, during which he scored 62 goals in 142 appearances in all competitions, Adebayor made a £25m move to Manchester City in July 2009 on a five-year deal,

One of his most infamous moments at City came two months later when he scored the third goal in a 4-2 victory over Arsenal and ran the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of visiting supporters.

However, his stay at City was short-lived and he joined Real Madrid on loan in January 2011 after falling down the pecking order.

Adebayor then joined Tottenham in August 2011 on a season-long loan and finished the campaign as the club’s top scorer with 18 goals, 17 of which came in the Premier League.

After protracted negotiations, Adebayor signed a permanent deal and spent three seasons with the club, but failed to hit the heights of his loan spell, although he scored 11 Premier League goals in the 2013-14 campaign.

One of his worst moments came in the north London derby at the Emirates in November 2012 when he was sent off for a foul on Santi Cazorla soon after giving Spurs a 10th-minute lead. Adebayor went on to celebrate in front of the Gunners fans but eight minutes later had egg on his face as he saw red. Tottenham went on to lose the game 5-2

Adebayor scored just twice in his final season in 2014-15 and joined Crystal Palace after finding the net 42 times in 113 appearances in all competitions.

Other players to have crossed the divide

David Bentley started his career at Arsenal, but made just one appearance in four seasons with the club, the last of which was spent on loan at Norwich. Bentley joined Blackburn where he spent three seasons before moving to Tottenham on a six-year deal for £15m in July 2008.

The winger played regularly for the first two seasons, but spent the next three on loan at Birmingham, West Ham, Rostov in the Russian Premier League and finally a return to Blackburn before he announced his retirement at the age of 29.

Rohan Ricketts won the Youth Cup with Arsenal in 2000 but never made a senior appearance for the club. In 2002, the midfielder joined Tottenham where he spent three seasons, the best of which came in the 2003-4 campaign in which he made 28 appearances, scoring twice.

However, under Jacques Santini and then Martin Jol, Ricketts struggled for game time and spent loan spells at Championship clubs Coventry and Wolves, the team he joined permanently in the summer of 2005.