I’m not sure if many Arsenal fans have noticed that there is a little bit of rivalry building up between us and our noisy neighbours up the road at Tottenham. It seems that since they won the mighty League Cup back in 2008 they have overtaken Arsenal as London’s biggest team. (Since then Arsenal have won four FA Cups, but that doesn’t matter as they have finished above us in the League for a few seasons in a row.)
Anyway, Tottenham are building up next weekend’s North London Derby into a bit of a grudge match and a crucial showdown, but the fact is that Arsenal are just expecting another easy stroll in the park to cement our place at the top of the table.
There have been rumours that all the injuries we had before the break will weaken us, but from what I see we will have a fully fit squad to choose from, with even Reiss Nelson and Cedric Soares available for selection after returning from long term injuries.
Zinchenko has now had a good break and should be available, but Arteta will have to choose between the Ukranian and Kieran Tierney, who has been given a few days holiday after a small head collision and him and Martin Odegaard have been training with the squad this week and both look very fit and healthy.
For the right wing back Arteta has Ben White, who wasn’t called up and Tomiyasu (who played for Japan against the USA before coming back to get ready for this game) to choose from, with Cedric as a comfortable backup.
Thomas Partey has been sent back from Ghana as a precaution but he hasn’t played and should now be available. The Ghana coach Addo explained that they simply did not want to risk Partey in a friendly. “Hopefully Thomas will be healthy very, very soon,” he told reporters. “We didn’t want to take that risk in a friendly game to play him against Brazil, but surely playing a player like him against a squad like Brazil would have been helpful.” It would be more helpful for Arsenal as he should now be in the squad for Tottenham, but it certainly doesn’t sound like there is anything seriously wrong with him at the moment.
So, it looks to me that everything has come together at the right time, and Arteta will have a full squad (except for Elneny of course) ready for the gruelling fixture list ahead, but the important thing is that he can choose his very best team on Saturday.
Arsenal Women won the North London Derby 4-0 last week, and I’m hoping we can do the same this weekend….
Sam P
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I can’t see it being a “stroll in the park” as you put it Sam P, but admire your blind optimism.
I also don’t think it’s going to be easy since Kane or Son would most likely score at least one goal and Conte knows how to park the bus very well
But at least most of our key players are fit and maybe some of them are really pumped up because they didn’t get the call-ups
@ GAI ,come on GAI man Spuds have a weak backline and have been exposed many times already and Jesus will have field day…ours is only to be alert on the counter
Maybe. But Conte would likely assign five defenders and two defensive midfielders to protect his GK, in the first half
like we were against Man U?
Its about time Arsenal show their credentials against a top side.
As for Kane,in some games he has been stifled.
Our cds shd be able to handle him provided they dont leave big gaps like in the MU game
Then we shd see how good he and the Korean are when time and space are at a premium
Our CBs have more days to rest as compared to Kane, so I don’t think he can score from open play. But he could score from set-pieces
It’s Son who’s deadly in counter-attacks
Happy Birthday Granit.
I have this feeling that we ready to do battle and I really can’t wait!!!
Let’s just hope that the optimism regarding the injury front isn’t far fetched and they all stay fit!!
Itching to see how Saliba and Gabriel deal with Kane and Son, while watching how many times Saka, Martinelli and Jesus are fouled before cards are brandished.
The NLD is hardly ever a stroll in the park, but I believe that if we have a fully fit squad, we can deal with Spurs. The officiating in this fixture hardly ever favours us. They’re usually gifted with soft penalties. I hope this doesn’t continue.
Our defenders need to be focused and our attackers need to be ruthless. We can’t afford to waste chances.
Congratulations to the Arsenal women, they’ve set the pace.
Jesus.
Martinelli. Odegaard. Saka.
Xhaka. Partey.
Tierney. Gabriel. Saliba. White.
Ramsdale.
Kane.
Sessegnon. Son. Kuluveski.
Bentacur. Hojberg.
Davies. Dier. Romero. Emerson.
Lloris*
And your point is?
Yeah, cool heads need to prevail. I remember this energy before United. Let’s be humble and hope we get a good result on the day, especially as we don’t know Partey’s injury status
Jesus – KANE
MARTINELLI – Sessegnon
Odegaard – SON
SAKA – Kuluveski
Xhaka – BENTACUR
PARTEY – Hojberg
TIERNEY – Davies
Gabriel – DIER
SALIBA – Romero
WHITE – Emerson
Ramsdale – LLORIS
We kept a high line against Man United and paid dearly for it, hopefully we’ve learnt our lesson, against spurs, we should be ready to close all loopholes,
Spurs have their best talents in attacks, there midfield and defense aren’t technical, we should be able to exploit them. Looking forward to a gunners 2-0 victory.
Anthony taylor its the ref ,neither mike dean or paul tirney arent on VAR so i have a little hope as long as we dont mess up on defence duties and be sharp not like utd game .
This article sounds like there has been a lot of unhatched chicken counting by the Author
Every true Gooner wishes we have a good game against our nemesis. Of course no game is ever a one-sided affair. However if we have a fully fit squad, Arteta does not repeat the mistakes he made against Man U and the referee is not biased we shall win the game. The last time we played against them we had a number of injuries and the officiating was questionable. This time I am praying for a free and fair contest. Antonio Conte is the new Jose Mourinho whose major tactic is to pack the bus and make it difficult for us to play with the aim of catching us on the counter. Our boys need to be fully drilled to neutralise this negative football. If we avoid errors and take them head on we shall beat them. We should at all times desist from giving them undeserved respect and playing a vindictive game. We should not give them unnecessary spaces and we must play with cool heads but with rigorous movement and energy. If we approach this game from that positive angle we shall defeat them convincingly.
Park instead of pack.
Spurs are 3rd and I’m eating and we are talking of easy win. Optimism is good but underestimating your opponent is pride which precede destruction.
I won’t forget last season in a hurry when we needed a draw and played into their hand, giving what was ours to loose
I don’t believe most reasonable fans think it will be a “stroll” even if we win. The headline and some of the content were probably written to simply generate interest.
Don’t forget that last season’s game was played when we had some injuries and there were some unfavourable refereeing decisions. Hopefully the referees will be fair this time.
If all our players are fit and running, I see no reason for not winning. That said, we will have to mark both Kane and Son very closely.
You’re right I read in a blog (I think It was called football London) saying arsenal is having an injury Crisis, don’t understand why they thought so but the arsenal squad is actually quite healthy.
@AG
Yes, the Mirror is also spouting nonsense this morning about 8 players out. It’s just scaremongering, but hopefully the Spuds will believe it and get a shock when they see our teamsheet…
We all know that form goes out of the window in a local derby, even if we were top and Spurs were bottom don’t think I would be saying we would get an easy win. It all depends as well to who keeps their heads, we don’t want to give away easy free kicks or pen , it’s all looking to being an interesting game.
I don’t like Spurs. I don’t care much about the scoreline. I just want 3 points for arsenal.
Easy win?stroll in the park??I could be sooooooooo rude with some of you……..
Not quite fully fit squad with Smith Rowe now out until new year, and most definitely not a ‘stroll in the park’. These recent games against Spurs are always likely to go either way, but I think this year we’ll have the edge.