Despite the Merseyside derby taking place this weekend, all eyes will be on the North London derby, as the race for fourth place heats up. It is a rivalry so fierce, that it could make or break either set of supporters’ entire season, despite there only being a two point gap between the sides in the Premier League table.
Spurs are without a win against Arsenal in three league meetings, with their last being a 2-1 home victory back in the 2012/13 season under then head coach, Andre Villas-Boas. Arsenal have won two of the last three meetings 1-0 having drawn the other, showing there isn’t really much to separate the teams.
Current Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino can take plenty of positives from the 1-1 draw at the Emirates earlier this season, a match where Spurs had actually taken the lead even without Harry Kane in the side, and then put in one of the best defensive displays of the season to secure at least a point at the home of their bitter rivals.
This result seems to have sparked a breeze of fresh optimism at White Hart Lane this season among not only the fans, but the players too when it comes to facing teams near the top of the table. The 5-3 victory against Chelsea is the most notable; a match Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will have studied very carefully ahead of this Saturday’s encounter.
Arsenal have won their last five games in all competitions, including a convincing 2-0 victory away to champions Manchester City. The key to their recent resurgence has widely been credited to Alexis Sanchez. The £35 million winger is currently being deployed as a striker under Wenger, unlike during his time at Barcelona, which could just prove to be genius on the part of the league’s current longest-serving manager. The Chilean has netted a remarkable 18 goals so far in his first season at the North London club, but surprisingly trails Tottenham’s Harry Kane by two.
Tottenham club captain Younes Kaboul was heavily praised for his defensive display against Arsenal earlier this season, but since then has dropped down the pecking order in not only Mauricio Pochettino’s eyes, but those of the Tottenham faithful too with a move away being heavily reported throughout the January transfer window. Now however, Jan Vertonghen and Federico Fazio are enjoying a string of decent performances at the heart of the Tottenham defence, the latest coming in Spurs’ 3-0 away demolition of West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
Tottenham should be expected to perform with the same attacking intent as they did against Chelsea last month, rather than play eleven behind the ball as they did at the Emirates. Tottenham now have the quality striker they were missing last season in Harry Kane, who has developed quite the partnership with Spurs magician Christian Eriksen, and they are likely to go all out to try and secure the three points.
Arsenal have an abundance of midfield gems to make up for their lack of performing strikers. Sanchez has played up front for the majority of the Gunners’ campaign, a move which has proved to be very successful. There is no doubt that Arsenal will be looking to get forward and create chances from the get-go with the creative options they have in midfield. They’ll be looking to break open that Spurs defence for Sanchez to get in and around the box and cause trouble.
Team news:
Tottenham – Emmanuel Adebayor, Roberto Soldado are both available, but Kane is expected to start as the lone striker. Nacer Chadli is available once again after being absent due to family reasons. Nabil Bentaleb should be available after Algeria’s involvement in the Africa cup of Nations ended early.
Arsenal – Sanchez should be available after being rested against Aston Villa. New signing Gabriel Paulista should be available following his transfer from Villareal. David Ospina is expected to retain his place in goal ahead of Wojciech Szczesny.
Stats:
- Arsenal v Tottenham head to head: ARS league wins 66, TOT league wins 49, DRAW 44
- Spurs have already picked up more points against last season’s top four (4 points) this campaign than in the entirety of last season (2 points).
- Spurs have scored more goals from outside the area than any other premier league club (8).
- Whenever Emmanuel Adebayor has scored in this fixture for Spurs, Arsenal have gone on to win 5-2.
- This fixture has seen 35 league goals since the start of the 2010/11 season at both Emirates stadium and White Hart Lane.
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