There are at least three Arsenal players that will have to put in a far better performance against Tottenham today than they did against Liverpool last Saturday evening. One bad game against a top-six opponent away from home can be forgiven, but to put in two consecutive poor performances will have questions being asked.
David Luiz
Luiz had a nightmare against Liverpool, well, not completely as he did fine in the first half, but wrecking the half time team talk and effectively putting the game out of reach with his ridiculous shirt pull on Mo Salah, simply cannot be repeated today.
Dani Ceballos
He was played out of position but even so, that is no excuse for his suicidal pass across the penalty area that landed at the feet of Roberto Firmino and the truth is that he went completely AWOL thereafter. He had zero impact on the game compared to his performance the previous week at home to Burnley and he has to show that he can do it against the top-six and not just the smaller teams.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Had a poor game against the Reds no denying that and his record against the top-six is not overwhelming, he missed that penalty at Wembley last season and you need your number-one goalscorer producing the goods against the big teams on a regular basis.
There are excuses that can be utilised, especially with Ceballos but that works for only so long, there comes a point when excuses are no longer accepted and the big players are expected to produce against our closest rivals, home and away.