Tottenham vs. Arsenal
Venue: Wembley Stadium
Kick off: 1:30PM
Tottenham Hotspur lock horns with rivals Arsenal at lunchtime in the first North London derby to be staged at the new Wembley Stadium.
The two sides last faced off at the home of English football in an FA Cup semi-final clash a quarter of century ago, and this latest showdown has all the ingredients to provide similar fireworks.
Despite putting together an eight-match unbeaten run in the top flight, the Lilywhites remain fifth in the table and a point adrift of Chelsea, who will surely only improve following a hugely disappointing start to 2018, while Liverpool are two points better off.
Manager Mauricio Pochettino will not be all that concerned for now, however, having seen his side battle to a 2-0 win over Manchester United and earn a late 2-2 draw at Liverpool in their last two outings, giving Tottenham some positive momentum ahead of this second North London derby of the campaign.
Putting together back-to-back league wins is proving to be a problem for Spurs at the moment, last doing so at the very start of January, though Pochettino’s charges have a favourable run of fixtures to come once they navigate this tricky test against Arsenal.
Meanwhile, January may have been heralded as the start of a new era for Arsenal, and last weekend’s thrashing of Everton certainly suggests that they are back on track, but supporters do not need reminding of past false dawns.
For every Everton (5-1) and Crystal Palace (4-1) result, there is a Swansea City, Bournemouth and West Bromwich Albion just around the corner – three games Arsenal were expected to win, only to amass one point from nine.
Boss Arsene Wenger had confessed that reinforcements are required at the back, but for now he can take solace from the fact that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan – his two marquee arrivals last month – appear to have hit the ground running.
If the Everton match was indeed the beginning of a new chapter for Arsenal, then a hat-trick of assists for Mkhitaryan and a debut strike for Aubameyang was some way to start it, but the true test comes 11 miles west at Wembley.
Mkhitaryan’s tally of three assists in 120 minutes since arriving from Manchester United is the same number accrued by Alexis Sanchez – the man he directly replaced as part of the swap deal – in 1,507 minutes this season.
The big question now is whether the Gunners can finally put an end to their away-day woes and close the gap on their arch rivals, with four points currently between the two sides in a top-four race that looks likely to go right down to the wire.
Tottenham possible XI: Lloris, Trippier, Sanchez, Vertonghen, Davies, Dier, Dembele, Son, Alli, Eriksen, Kane.
Arsenal possible XI: Ospina, Bellerin, Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal, Ramsey, Xhaka, Iwobi, Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang.