Arsenal Face Tottenham Test on Derby Day

Arsenal Face Tottenham Test on Derby Day

Arsenal host high-flying Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates today off the back of a dismal record in recent times. Victory this weekend would see Arsenal move level on 30 points with Spurs in the Premier League table.

The Gunners have won just one of their last eight Premier League matches against their north London rivals, although that win came at the Emirates last season.

In their quest for victory, Arsenal hope to have Alexandre Lacazette available. The striker missed the 2-1 win at Bournemouth last weekend with a minor groin complaint and did not travel to Ukraine on Thursday for the Europa League game against Vorskla Poltava.

Unai Emery played a youthful side in Kiev and is expected to ring the changes against Spurs today.

Spurs have won their last six matches in a row in all competitions and ended Chelsea’s unbeaten start to the season with a 3-1 victory last weekend.

“It is important to build that confidence, to trust in the way that we play.” said manager Mauricio Pochettino.

“But the derby is always a different game and our approach will be different. We know very well what it means for our fans and we hope to be at the level that we expect.

“I don’t care what is going on around us. We have improved from last season and after 13 games we have more points than last season. Arsenal are the same too. They are having an amazing season, like Manchester City or Liverpool.

“But it is only 13 games and there is still a lot to play. We will see what happens. We are coming to a period that is so difficult to manage, between now and Christmas we have a lot of games. In the next few months we will see if we are going to be there.”

Arsenal will assess the fitness of Lacazette, who returned to training this week. Nacho Monreal (hamstring), Konstantinos Mavropanos (groin) and Danny Welbeck (ankle) remain sidelined, while Mesut Ozil will be pushing for a recall after sitting on the bench at Bournemouth.

Erik Lamela is a doubt for Spurs after suffering a thigh injury in Wednesday’s Champions League win over Inter Milan.

Kieran Trippier is close to a return from a groin injury, which has kept him out of the last two games. Mousa Dembele, Davinson Sanchez and Victor Wanyama are out.

Spurs have won just one of their last 25 away Premier League games against Arsenal (D10 L14), a 3-2 victory in November 2010.

Premier League matches between Arsenal and Tottenham have seen both teams find the net more often than any other fixture in the competition (34).

Arsenal are unbeaten in their last 11 Premier League matches (W8 D3), since losing against Chelsea back in August.

Arsenal have scored a league-high 21 goals in the second half of Premier League games this season.

The only times they’ve failed to score after half-time were in their opening two matches of the season (defeats vs Man City and Chelsea).

Tottenham have won their last seven Premier League London derby matches – only once have they ever had a longer such run in the top-flight (8 between October 1950 and August 1951).

Tottenham striker Harry Kane has scored in six of his seven Premier League appearances against Arsenal (seven goals in total), failing only in this fixture last season.

Arsenal’s Unai Emery and Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino haven’t faced since April 2012, when Pochettino’s Espanyol side won 4-0 against Valencia in La Liga. However, Emery won all three of his home La Liga meetings with Pochettino between January 2010 and December 2011.

Related Articles