Arsenal vs. Tottenham
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Kick off: 1:30PM
Arsenal play host to Tottenham Hotspur in the North London derby today (Saturday) looking to avoid their fifth defeat of the top-flight campaign after losing 3-1 at Manchester City before the international break.
Spurs make the short trip to the Emirates Stadium sitting in third place in the standings, while Mauricio Pochettino’s side have not lost in their last six league meetings against the Gunners.
Arsene Wenger would have hoped that the club’s lack of involvement in this season’s Champions league would have improved their chances in the Premier League but already, the Gunners are effectively competing for a place in the top four.
The same scenario applies to many of their rivals with Manchester City a class above everyone else, but Arsenal have not helped themselves by suffering four defeats in 11 top-flight games.
Each setback has come away from home – including to City and Liverpool – but losing at Stoke City and Watford has left Arsenal in a position where they are in real need to restore some pride against Spurs this weekend.
Similarly, Spurs showed in their most recent fixture against Crystal Palace that they are still struggling to put in clinical performances against some of the lower clubs in the standings, but there have been few problems in rising to the occasion when a big club stands in their way.
Convincing wins over Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool, as well as four points from two fixtures with Real Madrid, have proven that Spurs are ready to make the next step up in their pursuit of a first Premier League crown, but Pochettino will not lose sight of the importance of maintaining the edge in the club’s rivalry with Arsenal.
Losing to Manchester United remains the only blot on their away-day copybook in the league this season, but Spurs will be motivated to end Arsenal’s run of 10 successive wins at home in the Premier League.
Arsenal possible XI: Cech, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Monreal, Bellerin, Xhaka, Ramsey, Kolasinac, Ozil, Sanchez, Lacazette.
Tottenham possible XI: Lloris, Sanchez, Dier, Vertonghen, Tripper, Dembele, Winks, Davies, Eriksen, Alli, Kane.