This Sunday, Arsenal will travel across the Seven Sisters Road to Tottenham and hash out one of the most bitter, heated rivalries in English football - the North London Derby. 

It's the first game fans pick out when the fixtures are released, the most in-demand tickets on the market, and undoubtedly the most stressful days of any supporter's season. 

The stakes are just that much higher; defeats are all the more painful, every blunder and mistake will be sent your way for the next six months by rival fans. But the victories are celebrated like a Cup Final and every scrap of joy eked out until the next meeting.

The North London Derby has been played out 194 times and given both sets of fans some of their most cherished football memories, but for Arsenal it is a chance to re-live perhaps the greatest moment in their history. 

Back in 2003-04 - the last time the Gunners lifted the Premier League trophy - Arsene Wenger's soon-to-be Invincible Arsenal travelled to White Hart Lane in the knowledge that a point would secure the crown in their rivals' back yard.

Arsenal celebrated one of their most cherished memories in winning the Premier League at Tottenham in 2003-04

Goals from Patrick Vieira and Robert Pires - two beautifully crafted team goals, it's worth noting - had Arsenal 2-0 up at the break. A stunner from Jamie Redknapp and a penalty dispatched by Robbie Keane made it 2-2 by full-time, but despite throwing away a two-goal lead, it was enough. The Gunners had done it. 

The scenes from that Sunday in April almost 20 years ago to the day are ingrained in almost every Arsenal fan lucky enough to have seen them, blessed with the gift of a shard of local pride that can never be taken away from them. 

Just imagine that prospect for a second, the chance to win the Premier League - a title your opponent is still yet to win - at the expense of your most hated rivals. Can there be a better feeling? 

Well, judging by the celebrations from the Arsenal players, probably not. 

'We were thinking that if we had the chance to play for the title at White Hart Lane, then we saw it as a destiny,' Vieira later said of the game. 'There can be no better sweetness! So it was a chance that we had to take.

'We couldn’t think of any alternative, because that opportunity was too good to let it pass. We knew if we won it there, it would be something that the fans would never, ever forget - both sets of fans!'

Fellow goal-scorer Pires added: ''That was one of the best moments in my career, without doubt. At that moment, at the final whistle, we were champions! 

'You play to play for these moments, to take the trophy, and the icing on the cake was to win it at White Hart Lane. That season, everything was perfect.'

At full-time, the confirmation of their supremacy, Thierry Henry led the charge over to the away end as the rest of the ground slowly emptied, ripping off his shirt and whirling it above his head in ecstasy. 

The Gunners then stood and enjoyed their moment together arm-in-arm, bowing, applauding and dancing with their travelling supporters, who offered perhaps the most bitter insult of them all. 

'We won the league! We won the league!' sang the jubilant supporters to the tune of Tottenham's own anthem 'When the Spurs Go Marching In'.

'We won the league at White Hart Lane! We won the league at the s***hole, we won the league at White Hart Lane!'

There is nothing quite like the wordplay of victorious supporters, a previously-unseen inspiration turning the humble football fan into Shakespeare reborn. 

Such is the vitriol and tension between the two historic rivals, that the Gunners were in fact told not to celebrate the league title if they should remain unbeaten at Spurs. 

'Some of the security [said] "if you win, please don't celebrate there", and to be fair, everybody said "we understand that's going to create chaos or whatever",' Henry revealed later. 

He added: 'We wanted to respect everyone and not create trouble. I was annoyed we didn’t win – in fact I was fuming, but then [Mauricio] Taricco brought me back to earth.

'He was jumping up celebrating - maybe they are not used to that there - and he got cramp. I thought: "OK if we see out this draw, then I will be the one celebrating."'

Ray Parlour - Arsenal's record league appearance-maker - added: 'The stewards told us we couldn’t celebrate, we were like: "are you sure?! We celebrate when we just win a game here, we’re definitely celebrating winning the title!"'

'We really enjoyed it!' says Vieira of the post-match scenes. 'Our fans were still there and we went to celebrate for them, because I believe it’s a once-in-a-lifetime achievement to do that. We wanted to mark that moment properly.'

The resulting photos and images thrown up are some of the most cherished in Arsenal folklore, the side posing with inflatable trophies and banners draped around their shoulders emblazoned with three immortal words: 'Premier League Champions'.

'That day will stay in our history forever,' Henry stated. 'It’s a great day, it’s a great story.'

But the party didn't quite stop there. After at last being shepherded off the field, Arsenal took their celebrations indoors, Sky Sports cameras capturing the scenes. 

The players chanted and jumped up and down singing 'Champions!' as they virtually attacked one another with bottles of champagne before a soaking wet Henry and Vieira conducted their post-match interviews. 

'White Hart Lane's away dressing room isn't the biggest but they could shove us in a broom cupboard and we would still have a party,' Martin Keown wrote for Mail Sport back in 2023.

Current Gunners chief Edu said of the post-match festivities: 'We went straight into the dressing room, and we celebrated there for a few minutes then we decided to go back out to the pitch. 

'I ran out and said "where is everybody!?" Apart from our fans in the corner, the stadium was completely empty. They must have run out of that place because it emptied in seconds!'

'Although the game had finished, the action hadn't, as a Tottenham fan gave us a parting gift – as we pulled away in our team bus, a brick struck right where [Dennis] Bergkamp was sitting,' Keown continued.

'With a cracked window, we drive back to Arsenal's training ground with a smile on our faces and another trophy in the cabinet.' 

For some players, it was a chance to break out some special moves to mark the occasion in true extravagance.

'I did a backflip on the pitch – I did everything!' Kolo Toure admitted. 'Arsene didn’t like me doing those backflips. He said they were dangerous, so it was only for very special occasions!'

He would add: 'It was incredible, one of my best memories in my career. Coming from the Ivory Coast to Arsenal – people back home couldn’t believe it. But I played, and I shocked everybody, and then I won the title too.' 

Sol Campbell - who left Spurs for Arsenal in 2001 - took a more philosophical approach to the bizarre twist of fate that brought about one of the greatest stories in football. 

'It’s amazing that it happened like that. Football works in a strange way, doesn’t it? It’s like it’s been written by a novelist, it’s so romantic the way it happened. To go and win it there, it’s just nuts. It’s like it was meant to be.' 

Now, 20 years on, Arsenal's visit comes at a time when anything less than three points will likely see the Gunners fall short at the last for the second season in a row. 

But it works both ways, of course. Don't doubt that that day in 2004 will surely live long in the memory of a lot of Tottenham fans, albeit for different reasons. The prospect of derailing the Gunners' title tilt will be a mouth-watering one for sure. 

Spurs are six points behind Aston Villa in fifth place with two games in hand, but they do still have to play each of the title contenders. In other words, Tottenham will definitely have some say in which way the league goes. 

Ange Postecoglou's side might not be battling it out for the crown, but they still have plenty on the line in their own push for Champions League football. What better way for the Australian boss to cap off a successful first term than by snatching top four with the scalp of Arsenal along the way? 

Two decades have past, but as with any rivalry the passage of time has only enhanced the bitterness between the two sides, but do not be mistaken. 

The Gunners may not be able to seal a Premier League crown on Sunday, but they can certainly take a massive step towards doing so - and there is bound to be a celebration to mark the occasion at full-time.