London and New York have long been recognised as powerhouses of the Western world. They are cities built on trade, culture and industry. But, over the past few weeks, the parallels have extended to the awakening of their respective sporting giants.Last month in London, Arsenal ended a 22-season wait to become Premier League champions again.Just weeks later, the New York Knicks are a win away from their first NBA title in 53 years, having not reached the finals since 1999.Both have endured long droughts. Both may enjoy them being broken this summer. But the similarities between them actually go deeper.The crossover between those who follow both Arsenal and the Knicks has been growing for some time. Well-known fans of the two teams include New York filmmaker Spike Lee, New York City’s mayor Zohran Mamdani and actress Anne Hathaway.Arsenal legend Thierry Henry may be a self-proclaimed fan of the north London club, and now has a street named after him in New York for the duration of the 2026 World Cup finals after his time in MLS with the city’s Red Bulls franchise, but he actually follows the Knicks’ opponents in these finals: the San Antonio Spurs.It may be hard for Arsenal fans to compute their record goalscorer wearing Spurs merchandise, because of their local rivalry with Tottenham Hotspur, but the Frenchman’s allegiance to the Texan team stems from his great friendship with their former point guard Tony Parker, who was born in Belgium but grew up in and represented France.While Henry will be hoping his dreams of a Premier League and NBA double can stay alive on Saturday night, when the Knicks play Game 5 of the best-of-seven series in San Antonio, it was someone who once idolised the Arsenal great who put himself and his team-mates one win away from making that dream a reality: OG Anunoby.The scorer of the Knicks’ Game 4-winning shot on Wednesday was born in the Harlesden district of north-west London to an Arsenal supporting father. While he had a short spell “liking” Manchester United, his colours were nailed back onto the Arsenal mast by November 2021, when he was playing in the NBA for the Toronto Raptors.