Danny Rose has revealed how Tottenham was determined to knock Arsenal out of the EFL Cup after the way its rivals reacted to winning the previous north London derby.
The Gunners triumphed 4-2 in the Premier League on December 2, the hosts turning around a half-time deficit at Emirates Stadium as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice.
However, Spurs avenged that result on Wednesday when the teams met again at the same venue, a 2-0 triumph securing a place in the semi-finals.
Rose admitted the visitors were not impressed by the way Arsenal's players had behaved after the league fixture, including Aubameyang sharing a video on Instagram of his team-mates celebrating in the changing room.
The England international felt the cup result was "karma" for the way its neighbours acted after just one result - and expects his side to finish above Arsenal in the table for a third straight campaign.
"We were fully relishing the opportunity," the England international told Standard Sport.
"Our only motivation was remembering the nonsense that Arsenal posted after the game a few weeks ago.
"That was our motivation. Players that have only played 10 games for Arsenal were getting ahead of themselves. We used that in a positive way. It's karma. They fully deserve what they got.
"We had the motivation of getting to the semi-final, so we're over the moon.
"But the cherry on top was silencing them after remembering how they celebrated like they had won the league.
"We've put that result right. We'll see where they are come the end of the season and we'll see where we are."
The Football Association (FA) fined the two clubs on Thursday after both admitted charges of failing to control its players in the league meeting.
Arsenal was fined £45,000 and Tottenham £50,000 following a first-half scuffle after Spurs' Eric Dier celebrated making it 1-1 by running in front of the home fans and gesturing for them to 'shush'.
They are scheduled to meet in the return fixture on March 2.
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