Even though Arsenal piled the pressure on our Premier League rivals by taking all three points off Sunderland in the first game of the EPL weekend at the Stadium of Light, we are still locked on points with both Liverpool and Man City at the top of the table after they both managed wins of their own.
So it is still looking like this season will be the tightest and most hotly contested title race for many years and that means that every single point is precious. So even though we might normally say a draw would be an okay result from a hotly contested local derby, I really think we need to beat Tottenham at the Emirates stadium on Sunday.
We always want to beat the spuds, of course, but this time is perhaps more important than ever. Thankfully they are not in the best of form right now after the draw with Leicester City made it five games without a win in all competitions but I think we have to admit that under Pochettino they are a tougher nut to crack.
So I wonder whether Arsene Wenger is going to consider resting some of our key players like Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil when we travel to Bulgaria on Tuesday for the Champions League clash with Ludogorets Razgrad. It is also important for the Gunners to win that match to give ourselves the best chance of topping the UCL group but after smashing them 6-0 in the home tie he might think we can get the job done with a weaker team.
The boss did go with a full strength Arsenal XI in that home tie, though, and he will be wary of making any slip ups, which we have seen in Europe before. He might also be reluctant to change a winning team and perhaps the fact that we rested players last week for the EFL cup and that an international break comes after the derby will stop him from rotating.
What would you do Gooners?
Bob.