On Sunday, the first North London Derby of the season takes place. Always an intense affair, there is a little extra spice to Arsenal VS Tottenham this year.
For decades, Tottenham have been the traditional underdogs in the North London Derby. Over the last four years, though, Spurs have been by far the better team.
As well as that, it will be Unai Emery’s first North London Derby. If Arsenal’s match against Liverpool a few weeks ago was a defining game for Emery, Spurs will be that times a hundred.
Arsenal’s current unbeaten run is impressive, but has a few caveats. They have yet to win against one of the top teams. And despite good results, the performances haven’t always been of a high standard. A victory against Tottenham on Sunday would turn a decent start to the season into an undeniably good one.
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Tottenham come into the derby in good form. They followed up their comprehensive 3 – 1 win over Chelsea last weekend with a battling 1 – 0 over Inter Milan midweek. The issue for Spurs is, as it has been all season, what kind of team they can put out.
Against Chelsea Kane, Eriksen, Son and and Alli all started. The foursome started 20 times together last season to devastating effect.
However in a post world cup year, Pochettino hasn’t been able to field the same time with as much consistency. Eriksen and Son were only introduced from the bench in the Champions League on Wednesday, presumably to save their energy.
For Arsenal, it depends how quickly they can start the game. They’ve won all their games in the second half this season after stuttering in the first half. The trouble is, if they wait until the second half to play against Tottenham, it may well be too late. Just look at Chelsea last weekend.
The bookies have this down as a tight game. Arsenal are 6/4 to win, while Spurs are 5/2 with Paddy Power.
