Thomas Frank was a man in demand wanted by Man United and Chelsea but things have faltered at Tottenham – a win over rivals Arsenal would do wonders for his relationship with the Spurs fans, writes MATT BARLOW

The book released by Thomas Frank in Denmark this week did remind us he was very recently a man in great demand, squeezing meetings with Chelsea and Manchester United inside one day in May 2024.

Chelsea’s search was down to the final two and Frank’s publication entitled without his usual modesty ‘Diary from the Premier League: The Story of Denmark’s Greatest Coach’ reveals his readiness to accept the job at Stamford Bridge had it been offered to him not Enzo Maresca.

United won the FA Cup the day after their people met Frank in Jim Radcliffe’s garage and decided to keep faith in Erik ten Hag.

Frank also let it be known he had been approached at around the same time by the national teams of the United States and Denmark but wanted to continue in the Premier League and spent another year overachieving at Brentford before Tottenham made their move.

They went one step further than Manchester United or Chelsea although 18 games into his tenure and it feels as if Frank could really do with a positive result in his first north London derby to remind the Spurs fanbase that he is the right man to take them forward and build them into a force once again.

Faltering results after a decent start, an unadventurous style of football and heavy reliance upon set-pieces for goal threat have left quite a few of them doubting Thomas.

But nothing would boost Frank’s popularity ratings like winning at Arsenal and inflicting damage on their title bid.

This local squabble always heightens tensions. Ange Postecoglou got the hump with Spurs supporters when he realised plenty of them were happier losing at home to Manchester City in May 2024 because winning would have improved Arsenal’s chances of becoming champions.

Postecoglou’s standing among many fans never truly recovered and a year later he was gone having failed to beat the Gunners in four attempts.

Frank seemed conscious of the delicacy of the matter when he spoke ahead of the game. ‘I don’t want to praise them too much, Arsenal,’ said the Spurs boss. ‘But we can’t hide from the fact they are top of the table, and they invested a lot in the squad in the summer and over the last couple of years, so they have a very strong competitive squad with almost two good players in every position.’

Strategy and investment are central to North London football’s modern power struggle.

Mikel Arteta is close to six years as Arsenal boss. He was given support when it wobbled and backed unequivocally to build the team he envisaged. When he identified Declan Rice as the key to their ambition, they smashed their transfer record and spent £115million to sign him from West Ham.

They beat Spurs to Eberechi Eze in the summer. ‘Who’s Eze?’ quipped Frank, declining to linger on the thorny subject of missed targets. On Rice’s fee, he said: ‘I don’t think we are close to spending £100m, but I don’t know. Let’s see what happens.’

Since ousting Daniel Levy as chairman in September, the Lewis family have taken control of Tottenham and made promising noises about their desire to prioritise sporting success.

‘They definitely said they are all in for the club,’ said Frank. ‘That they want to be here for the long term and they want to have success. That’s, of course, a little bit ‘big headlines’. We’ll see what happens in the future, but I’m confident they will back us to do everything we can to build a successful club.

‘It’s very, very difficult to give a specific answer. I’m very good at talking up here, but it’s about showing it out there on the pitch consistently after setbacks. The same with them. In the best positive way, that’s what we need to do together.’

Jose Mourinho was Spurs boss when Arteta took the Arsenal job. Then came Nuno Espirito Santo, Antonio Conte and Postecoglou. Still unable to settle, Frank goes into his first derby with Arsenal stronger than they have been in years.

Arteta’s team are clear at the top by four points from Manchester City and they are eight clear of their neighbours. They have lost only once – at Liverpool – and conceded only once in eight home games this season – a goal scored by Erling Haaland in September.

Spurs have not beaten them since May 2022 when Conte was at the helm and Harry Kane and Son Heung-min were scoring the goals. Fifteen years have passed since they won at the Emirates in the Premier League. Younes Kaboul scored the winner in a breathless 3-2 comeback.

‘Two clubs on different journeys,’ said Frank. ‘I hate to say it but they’re a little bit ahead of us, but we know one thing, in one game, I am 100 per cent sure we will be very competitive. Of course we can win on Sunday.’

Tottenham’s problems under Frank have been at home. On their travels they have been impressive, winning at Manchester City, West Ham and Everton without conceding.

They are harder to play against and the other key area of improvement from last season has been in set pieces. Arsenal are also thriving at set pieces and both clubs have set pieces coaches who worked under Frank at Brentford. Spurs have Andreas Georgson and Arsenal have Nicolas Jover.

‘I worked with Nicolas for almost three years,’ said Frank. ‘A very good guy, a good coach. Same with Andreas. I worked with him also at Brentford and now again here.

‘I’m pretty sure the bits I’ve done at Brentford have inspired a lot of clubs to focus more on set-pieces. And it is quite interesting that this year I go from Brentford to Tottenham, the spike in focus on set-pieces for all the teams, especially the long throws, is crazy.

‘It seems like everyone is very, very focused on them, which we should be. They’re a third of our goals. So why not be very good in that phase, and very good in high pressure. We need to be good in many phases.’

As Frank searches for progress, he has players back from injury. Randal Kolo Muani has been declared fit and ready to play despite a broken jaw after training through the week in a protective mask.

Mohamed Kudus, Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray, who all missed international duty are available. So is Pape Matar Sarr, who limped off playing for Senegal at the Emirates Stadium against Brazil. Radu Dragusin is close after 10 months out with a serious knee injury although Dominic Solanke is still out.

All positives are welcome for Spurs so maybe this is an omen. Tottenham’s first game of Frank’s life was a victory against Arsenal, in October 1973 with goals by Alan Gilzean and Martin Chivers. Frank was four days old.