Arsenal News Arsenal opinion

Confirmed Arsenal team for NLD clash with Spurs

The teams are finally out for today’s North London Derby clash between Arsenal and Spurs, with more than just bragging rights at stake.

The Gunners may not come into the tie with the better form of the two sides, but have every reason to feel confident of a result after their impressive showings in recent months.

While the manager has seemingly raised his side’s performances against the bigger sides, he is yet to take a point against our noisy neighbours from two attempts, but having played in a number of North London Derby clashes as a player, he will know how important this means to all those involved.

Mikel Arteta was blessed with a complete squad of options to choose from today, but there was always likely to be one or two decisions which raised eyebrows, and leaving Pablo Mari out of the starting XI will hopefully not be a talking point after the full-time whistle is blown, while Aubameyang’s absence will most definitely be a shock for some.

Having played in Greece on Thursday night against Olympiacos, some changes from the first-choice eleven always appeared likely, and the manager’s team has finally been announced below.

Which players do you think should have been given the nod to start today? Score predictions after seeing the confirmed team?

Patrick

Posted by

Tags Arsenal v Spurs North London Derby tottenham

284 Comments

    1. I do too, Phenom, look at how well he’s played alongside Saka and ESR before and yes he loves a goal against them! Just wondering what Auba’s been up to

  7. Mari not even on the bench. I would have probably liked to see Holding back into the side to be honest but not too bad.

    I know it’s not the game to be trying new partnerships but I wonder if Partey and Chambers could be tried at some stage together, would be interesting.

    1. Never thought about that partnership before but I guess Chambers and Partey could be really solid together. Doubt we’ll ever see it though.

  8. Only in 3 hours will we know if arteta is right but personally I think he may regret this line up

    1. strange…..cos am beginning to turn on MA for the sort of treatment he is giving that young lad

  10. Good team. I hope our forward players will interchange positions to attack with unpredictability. Luiz and Partey can ping long passes to Saka down that right channel. And maybe Ode will have a good game after a great goal.
    Really optimistic for this game.
    COYG!!

    1. Aren’t you tired of Luiz long passes. It is misplaced 70% of the time. Gabriel passes are usually clean

        1. Ah Joe

          The supporter of Xhaka and Luiz no matter what happens with extreme bias. Supports them much more than he supports Arsenal!

          Will only comment on posts about them and nothing else.

  11. Martinelli not even on the bench? Willian must have playing time in his contract no doubt. Surely we could lose him over the summer.

    Hope Mari isn’t carrying an injury and we don’t know.

      1. Who knows Sue, difficult to tell what’s going on with the lad to be honest. I suppose when he makes the bench he doesn’t get on the pitch so either but I agree it’s a strange one 🤔

        2. Saw this tweet:
          Gabriel Martinelli is not in the squad to face Tottenham today. The player is fit & doing well in training. Arsenal rate him highly but it’s a selection decision. [
          @David_Ornstein
          ] #afc

          2. Sue Arteta himself will sack himself, playing a real Madrid player but always benching our future star.

    1. And thank goodness Moura didn’t start from the beginning.
      Mourhino must be cursing his.luck right now for not starting him.

  13. I guess I agree with the line up. Hopefully Luiz and Xhaka will prove everyone wrong.

    Weird that we have 2 RBs on bench but not Martinelli..

  14. Great lineup, Laca work rate and understanding with ESR & Saka will be needed. Great to see Soares back too.
    All in all, very solid lineup

      1. Lol… Bruv is that lineup not strong or attacking enough?
        Who should’ve sat? Laca who obviously works harder than Auba or ESR whose one touch could be important? Or Soares who’s a more better defender than Bellerin? Or you also one of those who think Luiz has been terrible for us?
        I don’t get you though, could you point out the problem with lineup? Lol

        1. Nuh bro, all those who say the lineup is not attacking mean Xhaka is on and whatever other midfielder they preferred isn’t.

        2. Ya makes no sense and sends a really bad message to the players

          Train hard and be impressive as MA has said himself about Gabs and you don’t even make the bench…..or…..have discipline issues and you still can play just from the bench

  19. Reports saying Auba out for disciplinary reasons, and Martinelli is fit and just not in the squad selection today….. We can address that later. Right now i just want a win and a top performance. Lets go gunners!

    1. Disciplinary reasons ! But still makes the bench.. ,Martinelli completely dropped .
      I would of thought if Auba been naughty he should be completely dropped .but no his reward is to take Martinellis place ,

      1. I’m waiting for Martinelli’s biography in 25 years time to know what’s actually going on now🤣

      2. It makes no sense…. trying to be positive until 90 minutes are up at least…. really trying….

        2. Hes an ok youth player who is over hyped by everyone because he exceeded expectations. He got 3 goals last year no assists in the league and 1 goal was the fluke against Chelsea that was well taken but only possible because he took such a terrible 1st touch that it made Kante slip. So over hyped it’s insane he started 6 and came off the bench 8 times 3 goals no assists is hardly start every week form is it.

          2. lol oh boy, the things you guys come up with to defend Arteta. Jurgen Klopp called him a “talent of the century”. I’ll take a serial winners opinion over an amateur managers.

  21. Mr Arteta, what is the problem you have with Martinelli? What does he need to do to be in your starting 11? He is fit. Cant you bench Saka and play Martinelli? Is it when Saka gets a long term injury before you realise your folly

    2. Get older and better, we’re talking about a kid who scored 3 no assists in 6 starts and 8 sub apps in the league last year. This year he has started 3 come of the bench 2 and scored 0 with 0 assists. Everyone acts like he’s messi!

      1. Dude!!!! You better go hide before they come for your head!!
        I rate Martinelli and know his time will come but yes the way everyone reacts every week you’ll be forced to think it’s Messi or CR7 they’re talking about😁

  22. Arsenal will lose martinelli in the summer no doubt about it. There is something going on behind the scenes that will soon be revealed by someone about Arteta and Martinelli.

      1. But he needs to play football at this age remember. He’s in the mould of Saka, Carvanigar, David, Smith Row, Green Wood, Atsu Fati and some other young footballers in the world today. And for a coach to be treating him like this is unacceptable. I know his agent must be working on something.

        1. His agent can work all he wants but if we dont want to sell him then he wont be sold, he has 4 more years on his contract, no one will be able to afford his price tag in this climate, pretty simple.

        2. Sure europes elite will be queuing up for his league record of 3 goals 0 assist in 9 starts and 10 sub appearances staggering numbers right?

          Pepe put up 5 goals no assists in 10 starts and 9 sub appearances in the league last year and was deemed to be useless and a flop. Funny that, Martinelli is the 2nd coming with worse results.

          1. Angus I don’t see anyone claiming that Martinelli is the best player on earth. Using basic logic I believe people want him to get some game time to help his development as he is at a reasonable age already to start contributing to the team.

            More than this I just think the absolute drive, skill and work rate he displays is refreshing for many Arsenal supporters. We having been missing that for over a decade now. So it’s hope and potential fans love about him.

            If you can’t understand this then possibly ask to borrow the family brain cell for the evening to try and comprehend.

            Do you think 15 mins every second game is too much for the lad?

  23. Wow, nice line up…the pressing from the front would be key to winning this game …all boys up front are fighters and quick too, laca can battle those Spurs cb..

    We will do just fine..as far as we cut out all unforced errors

  24. Let’s hope the refs and VAR aren’t even mentioned today! Hoping for a good game and may the best team win.

  26. More playing time for a Real Madrid reject one spot in the bench for another-while our own Martinelli gets dropped completely because of Auba being a knob .
    The Arsenal way …

    1. Well he’s playing well and got us z goal, hoping our plan is to try znd sign him and send Danny back.

      If ee sign Cellabos instead I’ll cry 🤣

  27. Arteta has confirmed Aubamayang on bench for disciplinary reasons. Seems strange he’s on the bench then but you don’t want to cut your nose off to spite your face.

    1. Arteta hasn’t got the bottle to tell the fans the truth what an absolute disgrace I did say a 2-0 win but cant see that now I just hope it doesn’t get embarrassing which could happen as our morale will be on the floor now

    2. Yeah but it’s neither here or there….either start Auba as I’m sure was originally planned or drop him completely from the match day squad.

      Seems like a bit of a mixed message,especially considering Auba is captain and should be the role model. Sends a strong favouritism message in my opinion.

      Anyway COYG

      1. Exactly. You’re being punished, but if we’re doing very awful I will put you on the pitch???? Sounds like nothing but self-sabotage and poor management skills. Well, there goes me trying to stay positive…. It just makes zero sense tho!

  31. I find MA decision to bench Auba a bit strange surely if you’re going to drop someone for disciplinary reasons you do it completely but in this case it looks like i have to discipline you but at the same time just in case i need you I’ll call you on from the bench what kind of message does that send to the rest of the team?

    1. It appears Auba turned up late according to a new post on JA. Not what I’d expect from the captain as it isn’t the first time by all accounts

  32. Lacazette not having the attacking positioning of aubameyang is frustrating. He’s never in the box or in the right place.

        1. If we do another burnley today something gonna get broken. Our finishing would make a great comedy movie at this point.

  42. Should not have been on the pitch but then again their isn’t an agenda against us what a load of bollocks

    2. Your not a real fan if you claim we’ve been awful. We’ve hit the woodwork twice. Dominated the game. They score from a mishit pass and pure bit of skill which was the only way they could score from their only shot and conclude we are awful. Go support someone else, fans like you are toxic and ruin the club.

  47. After such a good start too. Needed to capitalise on our superiority but still plenty of time to go… off the bloody post again

  62. We should never have Laccasette in this team next season if we want to go far in the league. Dude is no striker at all.

    1. Best we have played all seadon imho.

      Spurs with onr lucky goal, but the game should havr been put to bed.

  65. I can’t remember a single game ESR played bad. He’s brilliant and works damn effing hard.

    3. I’m seeing some 2007-10 football. We create some amazing chances but don’t finish and concede unluckily. Only difference is that the defence is better compared to that time.

  66. we now have midfielders who are getting into the box. we badly need 3 points from this game

  67. A great stat to hear. Last 9 times when Spurs have scored first they have failed to win.

    Apart from finishing team seems to be solid.

  68. Thank God we did not sign Morinhio as manager, his solution to every problem is Park the Bus. Hopefully we can keep up the same football in second half, we have been just unlucky not to score more then one. Come on Arsenal we can win this. For once we need the lady luck to smile on us.

    2. Brendan Rodgers and Diego Simeone also like to park the bus against big teams. But Tuchel gave Simeone a lesson for his negative football

  69. Get in there! Bit of luck but about time we and Arteta finally got a slice of luck we’re owed a fair few more lucky slices before we’re even!

  71. We are very unlucky to be on level terms on score..
    By that performance we should have been at least goal ahead..
    Great 1st half performance..

  72. Great goal from Lamela and we were so unlucky with the three clear-cut chances. Lacazette was trying hard, but he was too slow

    Mourinho just relied on his luck again as usual, because his team couldn’t win the ball possession

    1. I don’t understand why Lacazzett left that cross from ESR which ultimately hit by Cedric and hit the post..
      Why done that dummy.

      1. I think he tried to shoot but he was too slow to trick Spuds’ defenders. If it was Mahrez, Sanchez or Messi, I believe they’d do a fake shot trick

    2. He’s trying to do the same thing they did to us the last time we met give us the majority of possession and hit us on the counter.

      1. He always does it against big teams like Barcelona, Liverpool and Man City, maybe because he knows he’ll never win if his team plays normally

  73. Great improvisation by Lamela for his goal but overall a very good first half for Arsenal.

    Interesting to see what Jose does second half to counteract our threat down the left.

    We need a strong start to second half.

  75. Arsenal playing some the best football they’ve played all season, now we need a proper #9 to offer some presence in the box.

    2. Got your wish! Would be worried Saka is injured but he did have a quiet half so perhaps just overplayed.

  77. Whatever the outcome after 90 minutes I’m impressed with the drive and commitment of the first 45. It was really good to watch

  78. We might look back at the Olympiakos game being a turning point for Odegaard confidence/scoring wise.

  79. Cedric is intelligent than Bellerin (full stop).

    His defending and attacking prowess is better than Bellerin. His link up play is better than him. He should never again be dropped. That’s what we want from our fullback not a back passer.

  81. It’s nice to have a midfield that can actually help the team with goals. Clear difference in quality between Cellabos and Ode

  82. Spurs defence is there for the taking. Some clever movements and no clumsiness will put this game to bed.

    The ugly part is that Lamela goal is going to be part of the highlight reel for years to come. Skills disorganize defense!

    Lastly, I think it’s time Arsenal get odergard on the permanent. This guy is growing in every game he plays and I’m falling for him.

  83. Surprisingly Xhaka is doing more of forward passing today even he does it with fear 😀

  85. Great first half…wish we scored more, we’re creating th chances.
    Pepe just coming on. Saka finally getting all the rest he needed

      1. I thought Lacazzett took shot and then Clumsy tackle from Sanchez so I thought VAR would overturn..

    1. ????? They had no choice. It’s literally guaranteed, no debate, letter of the law peno. Was it lucky in that scenario yes but it’s not remotely controversial.

  95. Oh boy moaners will have to wait for another day to bite into Arteta.
    Right from the first minute we’ve been ruling this game.
    2-1.
    Xhaka-Partey so solid.
    Let’s Lee the concentration.
    Arteta plays too negative Arteta plays too negative, well hello enjoy Mourinho’s attacking football

    1. Lol we winning, you should be happier!

      Why would you choose to focus on negative people?

    2. Arteta playing “negative football” is bullshit and not based on evidence.
      Arsenal have been creating very good chances.
      Of course there are problems but not this.

    1. Partey looks great and reminds me of vieira, relaxed forward thinking..gonna get even better with time.
      COYG lets get a third!

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors