The Gunners enjoyed the perfect preparation for the first North London Derby of the season, courtesy of an exhilarating 4-0 midweek victory over PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League.
Both teams enter the match undefeated in the Premier League, having each amassed 13 points from their first five games of the campaign. Mikel Arteta will feel confident his players can extend a run of three consecutive home victories against our local rivals and secure a third clean sheet in a week.
Team News
Arsenal
Thomas Partey is still out with a groin injury. Gabriel Martinelli’s hamstring strain will be assessed, but he is unlikely to feature. Following stellar performances in the past week, David Raya, Fabio Vieira, Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard are expected to start.
As preparation for the weekend fixture, Arteta got valuable minutes into the legs of Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson against PSV; the pair will give the Gunners a variety of exciting attacking options on the bench together with striker Eddie Nketiah.
Tottenham
Ivan Perisic will miss most of the season, suffering a severe knee injury in training. Giovani Lo Celso, Bryan Gil and Rodrigo Bentancur all remain sidelined.
One to watch: Destiny Udogie
Udogie returned from a year-long loan to Udinese to debut at left-back in the season-opener against Brentford; a string of impressive showings, including two league assists, has cemented his place in the starting line-up.
Spurs fans are raving about the 20-year-old Italian, who looks solid in defence but also adds a fresh attacking threat on the wing, boasting a 91% pass accuracy.
The key battle: Declan Rice vs James Maddison
Since their summer arrivals in North London, international buddies Rice and Maddison have played integral roles in shaping their respective clubs’ good form.
Rice’s primary task will be nullifying Tottenham’s main creative threat, ensuring Maddison doesn’t enjoy time on the ball to orchestrate plays for in-form forwards Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski.
Predicted XI
Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Rice, Odegaard, Vieira, Saka, Jesus, Trossard
Match prediction
Arsenal 2 – 0 Tottenham
What are the managers saying?
Mikel Arteta
On how the team approaches a resurgent Tottenham…
“A new challenge, a new opportunity. Obviously, they have a new manager who has done really, really well and changed the vibe and everything around the club. It’s a different style as well, so adapt to that, be ourselves and produce the performance that we need to beat them.”
Ange Postecoglou
On whether his team will bring their front-foot style to the Emirates…
“There are always tweaks that happen because the opposition will force you to adjust certain parts of your game, but the underlying principles of the kind of team we want to be, no, I will not shy away from it now because we’re facing a good team. We have to go out there and challenge ourselves to play the football we have so far against one of the teams that will be challenging for the title.”
How to watch
The match will be broadcast live on Sky Sports. Kick-off is 2 pm.
Notes
- A victory for Arsenal will see them accumulate one more point in the Premier League than they did at the equivalent stage last season.
- If Rice, Trossard or Havertz score, they will emulate teammates Odegaard and Jesus, who netted against Tottenham on their derby debuts.
- Ted Drake remains the only Arsenal player to score a home first-team hat-trick against Tottenham, achieving the feat in a league game on 20 October 1934, in a 5-1 win.
- Harry Kane never missed a North London Derby match across all competitions following his first match against Arsenal on 7 February 2015. Kane played in 19 consecutive derby matches, concluding on 15 January this year with a total of 13 goals against the Gunners.