The North London Derby: Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur Match Preview And Prediction

The North London Derby: Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur Match Preview And Prediction

So this Saturday in the Premier League’s  12.30pm kick-off at the Emirates Stadium, North London rivals Arsenal face Tottenham Hotspur for the first time this year.

Spurs have been flying high having won their Champions League group after beating Real Madrid at Wembley and they are currently sitting in 2nd in the Premier League tied with Manchester United on 23 points.


The two clubs in 2nd place are already 8 points behind Manchester City but 4 points ahead of Arsenal in joint 5th.

So a win for the Gunners would see them move to within a point of Mauricio Pochettino’s side while a win would see Spurs move 7 points ahead so it is clearly a massive game as always for both clubs but in particular this version.

Recent stats do not make for good reading for Gooners as Arsenal are winless in their last 6 meetings with Tottenham and Spurs have 10 wins away from home so far in the calendar year of 2017 in the Premier League.

Arsenal however do have a solid run going of their own having won 10 games in a row at the Emirates in the Premier League.

Arsenal’s defence will need to be organized and focused and the midfield will need to be combative but disciplined which can be a problem for Xhaka and Coquelin but they will need to step up if selected.

Arsene Wenger could start Elneny as part of a back three but we shall see.

Arsenal’s massive summer transfer signing Alexandre Lacazette is the top scorer for the Gunners with 6 goals in all competitions and he MUST start the game along with Ramsay, Alexis (who looks to be playing as hard as ever despite all the transfer links around him) and Kolasinac plus Ozil who is overdue a good game and this is the perfect stage.

Wenger must get the balance right and make Arsenal hard to beat but be a threat – easy to say!

Ramsay ranks highly on Opta’s Pressure Index Score for Arsenal with Lacazette next as you can see below so these two players should be used as the Welshman has finally translated his fine play for Wales into his form for the Gunners.

The good news for Spurs fans but bad news for Gooners is that Poch is unbeaten in his time in the Premier League across his career against Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal team.

Harry Kane also boasts a pretty impressive record having scored 5 goals in the 5 times he has played in the North London Derby.

Barring injury Kane, Eriksen and Alli will of course start for Spurs but Son may well also start as Pochettino will look to try and take advantage of Mertesacker and Koscielny with the Korean’s speed.

As you can see below perhaps surprisingly Eriksen ranks higher than Kane on Opta’s Pressure Index Score for Tottenham.

Kane has scored 13 goals in all competitions for Spurs plus he has 4 goals for his country so far this season and has missed several games due to hamstring and knee injuries so he has to be dealt with by Arsenal.

So it is going to be an interesting game with much more than the usual bragging rights at stake as both clubs are looking to win as a loss would be most damaging in the pursuit of both Manchester City and the top 4 Champions League places.

We see it being a really entertaining game as both sides will be looking to win but based on current home form we think unfortunately for Spurs fans Arsenal are going to rise to the occasion and deliver a dynamic, hard-to-beat performance (if that is possible!) with the score being 3-2 Gunners.

We even see Arsene Wenger making a few interesting selections with possibly Jack Wilshere playing a role in a what would prove to be a massive win if the Gunners can put it all together and play with discipline defensively and win all the second balls but be able to be clinical in attack and take the chances which they will undoubtedly create.