It’s time for Ozil and Alexis to step up and prove their worth…..

The North London derby always means a lot to Arsenal and Tottenham fans. In years past, when Arsenal were dominant, it was a way for the neighbours to try and put a spoke in their rivals’ wheel, and it’s a fixture which has generally seen an equalisation of talent for the duration of the 90 minutes.

When the Gunners had Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira and Robert Pires, they were miles ahead of Spurs on paper. Yet there was rarely ever anything more than a single goal between the sides, the games often settled by the tightest of margins in Arsenal’s favour.

In recent times the dynamic has shifted, and Tottenham look the better side right now. Aided by the non-stop scoring of Harry Kane — a player who has scored in every league match he’s played against Arsenal — and the fact Mauricio Pochettino has fashioned a well-organised, hard to break down team, it’s now over three years since an Arsene Wenger side has tasted league victory in the derby.

It makes this weekend’s encounter all the more pivotal, and it’s a game that could have a real impact on the rest of Arsenal’s season. If they win, they cut the gap to Tottenham to just a single point, and take from it the confidence and belief that could help reignite what has been a stuttering campaign thus far.

Should they lose, Spurs would have taken three massive points at the Emirates, an already restless fan base would find itself further agitated and the gap would be a substantial and unhealthy seven.

The Gunners’ form has been patchy, especially away from home, and it’s hard not to draw some parallels between that and the fact their two star players, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, have yet to make the kind of contribution you’d expect from players of that talent.

There have been some mitigating circumstances, with the Chilean arriving back late from international duty during the summer, and the German hampered by injury, but here we are heading for mid-November and between them they have just two goals and four assists. By comparison, at this stage of last season they had nine goals and six assists, and Sanchez’s shortfall this time around has really been significant…… Read more here….

6 Comments

  1. Not looking forward to Spurs match. This is the first season I felt like that. We have dropped so low in quality thanks to Le Professeur. He is destroying us slowly like cancer. Spurs are literally better than us in every area of the team: Defense, midfield and Attack. I applaud Pochettino

  2. i am so disappointed of arsenal fans, you guys are not like teams who support their teams , always be negative what makes you to think that Spurs will win ?

    Ok i know sanchez ‘s heart is no longer there he is thinking of man city forgetting who is paying him. For him i will benched and give opportunity to PLAYERS LIKE Jack , Eddie Nketiah , Sanchez needs to be sold in china not in premier.

    I still believe Arsenal can win as long as they put 100% and avoid back tackles special Monreal , Xhaka & Hector and forget about Mike Dean idiot as he is another one who can make life difficult for us.

    Let us support the boys.

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