Explained: Why Arsenal and Tottenham have come under fire over ‘Happy Hanukkah’ message on social media

Both the north London clubs posted images of candelabras with the wrong number of branches, deviating from the correct nine-branched Hanukkiah. Spurs initially posted a Hanukkah message on Instagram featuring an 11-branched candelabrum. The error was promptly noticed by Daniel Sugarman, the director of public affairs for the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who expressed surprise at the mistake, especially considering they do have one person from the Jewish community in their social media team.

Attaching a picture of the wrong Spurs' social media post, Sugarman wrote: "I mean...of ANY football team in the UK, I would have assumed that Spurs would have at least one Jewish person on their social media team... #TenDaysofChanukah."

Tottenham, acknowledging the error, quickly removed the post, which included images of the Star of David, and replaced it with a previous year's image featuring a candelabra with the correct number of branches but without the Star of David.

Whereas, Arsenal's original post, showcasing a seven-branched candelabrum, was live for seven hours on both Instagram and X before being replaced with a correct nine-branched Hanukkiah.

Hanukkah, symbolized by the Hanukkiah, involves lighting one candle each night for eight days, with the ninth branch holding the shamash (helper or servant) candle. Nonetheless, Arsenal and Spurs fans would hope that their players would show better form than the respective social media teams when they return to Premier League action. While Spurs will host West Ham on Thursday evening, the Gunners face a tricky trip to Villa Park on Saturday in their next assignment.