Home of football statistics and historyPlenty is at stake for eternal Premier League foes Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal as they clash in the 173rd North London derby. This derby fixture tends to be harder to predict than the next card when playing teen patti online, and there is everything to play for going into this weekend.
Sunday’s encounter at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium could be pivotal to Spurs’ bid to pip Aston Villa to a fourth-place finish.
Despite suffering a dreadful 4-0 defeat at Newcastle United in their last league outing, they trail Unai Emery’s side by only six points, with two games in hand.
Manager Ange Postecoglou has had a fortnight to dwell on that disappointing performance at St James’ Park, but now is the time for action.
Tottenham can ill-afford another slip-up if they’re to tighten the noose on Villa, but the stakes are equally high, if not higher, for visiting Arsenal.
With Manchester City being handed a weekend off in the Premier League to contest the FA Cup semi-finals against Chelsea, the Gunners have taken advantage of the champions’ absence to return to the top.
After a 2-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend, Mikel Arteta’s team brushed Chelsea side with a thumping 5-0 win in midweek London derby to create a four-point buffer at the table’s summit.
This was cut down to a single-point lead after a commanding 4-0 away win at Brighton by Man City. City have a game in hand, meaning Arsenal must hold up their end of the bargain and beat Spurs while hoping Man City would drop points somewhere along the way.
Also See: Tottenham’s head to head record at home against Arsenal
Match Preview
Tottenham’s patchy three-game form (W1, D1, L1) can’t inspire much confidence around Postecoglou’s camp ahead of the latest staging of this iconic match-up.
Spurs held Arsenal to a goal-glutted 2-2 draw in September’s reverse fixture, yet it was the fifth time in their last six duels that they failed to take three points (D1, L4).
Playing at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium should come in handy, not least because they’ve won their last three home league outings despite conceding the opening goal twice in that sequence.
Turnarounds have been a common theme in Tottenham’s league matches this season, with only Liverpool (23) picking up more points from losing positions than Spurs’ 20.
Back-to-back multi-goal margin wins ‘to nil’ have served nicely to boost Arsenal’s morale ahead of this traditionally unpleasant short journey to meet their fiercest rivals.
Last season’s 2-0 victory at Spurs’ new state-of-the-art stadium was the Gunenrs’ first success on Tottenham’s home ground since September 2015 (D2, L5).
Not once in the 21st century have Arsenal recorded two consecutive away league wins against Tottenham, but their recent form on the road suggests this could be a perfect opportunity.
Arteta’s title-bidding side head into proceedings having kept a clean sheet on their last six Premier League travels (W5, D1), including a scoreless draw against Man City at the Etihad Stadium.
Team News
Despite being spared from competitive action since losing at Newcastle, Tottenham couldn’t stay away from trouble, with Destiny Udogie suffering a season-ending injury.
On the bright side, Richarlison is back to full fitness, leaving Ryan Sessegnon and Manor Solomon as the only remaining absentees in the home squad.
The situation looks even better for Arsenal, with Jurrien Timber the only missing player from Arteta’s star-studded roster, following Takehiro Tomiyasu’s recovery from a minor fitness setback.
Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal Potential Starting Line-ups
Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1): Guglielmo Vicario; Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Emerson Royal; Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur; Brennan Johnson, James Maddison, Timo Werner; Son Heung-min.
Arsenal (4-3-3): David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Takehiro Tomiyasu; Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey; Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard, Kai Havertz.
Prediction
High-scoring contests have been common in the recent stagings of the North London derby, but given what’s at stake, a more cautious approach from both managers wouldn’t be surprising.
Arsenal are full of confidence after an outrageous performance against Chelsea and are in far better shape than Spurs, and it’s only natural to back them for success.
Arsenal to Win
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