For both Arsenal and Chelsea, the contest between the sides at the start of March was the ninth London derby of the Premier League. By the end of the campaign, both the Gunners and the Blues will have taken part in 12 capital clashes each in the division.
With the intensity of those derby matches well known, it raises the question: is it harder for London teams to achieve their objectives in the Premier League than those from outside the capital?
“I do think that’s the case,” says Paul Davis, who was born in Dulwich on December 9, 1961 and played the first of his 447 competitive matches for Arsenal between 1980 and 1995 in a north London derby against Spurs on April 7, 1980.