The derby of all derbies

Never mind the Cup finals, the Champions League nights or the relegation six-pointers - as far as I’m concerned, this is the biggest Tottenham game I can remember.

There is more at stake on this Sunday afternoon than any other match in recent history.

I had just about got a handle on the emotions raised by these matches in my late 20s - to the point that on derby day I could operate on a normal level around actual people. But this time round I’m struggling.

Since Thursday I have been taking deep breaths, trying to think of other things and attempting not to bite my nails in front of my impressionable one-year-old son.

First and foremost, it's a derby. Derbies always have an edge but the North London Derby more than most. It's a game with a rich history that, even as a standalone fixture, has the potential to wreck weekends and relationships.

Full seasons are known to have been remembered fondly or tinged with regret purely based on the results of these matches.

Taken on its own, without any context, this is a big game. But when you start adding in the colour, the stories and the subplots that surround it, the sheer size of it makes me feel a bit ill.

The amount on the line - for both sides - is frightening.

Tottenham are in a title race. Four points behind the leaders. That's close. But if Everton somehow take points off Chelsea, everything will go into overdrive.

It would make the dream a real, tangible possibility. A draw at Goodison will mean victory over Arsenal can put us just two points behind as we chase a first league title in 56 years. I'm starting to shake just thinking about it.

Add to that our unbeaten home league run. To go unbeaten at home for a whole season would be a mammoth achievement in any season. But being in this position to do it in the last ever season at White Hart Lane, to round off 118 years of history - success, failure, glory and agony - brings about the type of poignancy and emotion that you just cannot script.

Then there is Arsenal. This is a big one for them too.

Say what you want about a third FA Cup final in four years but the top four is their bread and butter. They are the only team in the Premier League to have been there for the last 20 seasons. Non-stop.

They are right on the brink of failing to qualify for the Champions League and we can administer an almost killer blow. That should be impetus enough to fire them up. But then, they have won the title at the Lane twice… surely we owe them for that as well.

Then there is St Totteringham's Day. Mixed emotions on that one really. I have always found any pain in finishing behind Arsenal comes a distant second to whether or not we've fulfilled our own objectives.

But the end of last season was a nasty one. To be that close and still surrender the bragging rights for another summer of stick at the hands of a club going very publicly off the rails was difficult to take.

Now, call it fate, call it coincidence, we get the chance to make amends for it with the derby of all derbies.

My legs will be jelly. And it looks like all I have to do is sit on the sofa. Because none of my friends or the people they are going with has had the decency to get ill or break a leg - or anything that might see them surrender their ticket.

The magnitude of it all means I’ve had to take the day off work regardless, ticket or not. But for Pochettino and the players, they do not have that luxury. They have to turn up, we’re all relying on it, however utterly crucifying the pressure might be.

All they have to do is think of it as just another game they need to win.

But it's not just another game. It never is - but certainly not this time.