Arsenal could secure Champions League football with a win in the North London Derby at White Hart Lane on Thursday.
If they win it will be a glorious, dramatic, climactic moment against their fiercest rivals and Arsenal absolutely deserve that opportunity.
After losing three consecutive games to Palace, Brighton and Wolves, it looked like they had blown it. Now, on the back of four straight wins including Chelsea, Manchester United and West Ham, Arsenal have a four point cushion over Tottenham in fifth.
The team is by no means playing at its best, though. Season ending injuries to Thomas Partey and Kieran Tierney mean Mikel Arteta is improvising on a game-by-game basis.
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The versatile Takehiro Tomiyasu was selected at left back in Sunday’s win over Leeds. No doubt it was with a view to him playing there against Tottenham as Arsenal continue scrabbling for a way to solidify their left hand side in the absence of Tierney.
Nuno Tavarez is too raw, and as a result his teammates don’t quite trust him. He cannot build the play like Tierney because Arsenal’s center backs won’t pass him the ball.
In the absence of Ben White on Sunday, the Gunners were robbed of another defensive distributor. Tomiyasu, while typically defensively solid, didn’t always know where he was supposed to be on the left hand side against Leeds.
However, it just about worked, and the Japan international was trusted to participate in the build up play. As a result, Arsenal’s left side was functional and Gabriel Martinelli was able to terrorise Leeds to the point Luke Ayling got sent off.
In some ways, this run is reminiscent of Mikel Arteta’s first season in charge when he won the F.A Cup. Then, he played an unorthodox three at the back system with Ainsley Maitland-Niles at left wing-back.
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With their sights set on the F.A Cup, Arsenal kept doing what worked and beat City and Chelsea on their way to winning it. Now it’s Elneny and Nketiah helping them to big, big wins.
It’s going to take a lot more than shrewd tactical decisions and unlikely heroes against Tottenham, though. It’s going to take personality, the personality required to win big games – the biggest game of the season.
Arsenal have shown that personality in building an advantage over Spurs not once, but twice now. In spite of this, it has been clear for months their season was going to come down to the rescheduled derby, and so it has. Arsenal have earned the chance to take all the spoils on Thursday. Now, how ruthless are they?
