Spurs Look to Shock Arsenal | OneFootball

As another international break comes to an end, we look forward to another big Premier League derby on Sunday. While much is made of the Manchester and Merseyside derbies, in the south of England they don’t come much bigger than the North London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. 

Form not a factor

The current league leaders Arsenal will be strong favourites at home. They sit on top of the pile with 26 points, four ahead of second placed Manchester City and eight points above their North London rivals who are in fifth. 

It’s not quite as straight forward as that though. Playing away from home just might be better for Tottenham at the moment. They have the best away form in the league so far this season. Arsenal on the other hand have the second best home form. Throw in the fact it’s a fiery derby and anything could happen. 

No home advantage

Much like the covid days, when there were no crowds, it feels like the ‘home advantage’ is having less of an impact in the modern game. This seems to ring true for Spurs more than anyone. In their last home match against Manchester United they threw away three points right at the end, but for 83 minutes they were 1-0 down. 

This result was a true example of the highs and lows of football, summed up in five stoppage time minutes. Richarlison thought he’d won it for Spurs in the 91st minute, only for Matthijs de Ligt to equalise at the death. 

2-2 was a fair result in N17, but with the home crowd booing the substitution of Xavi Simons on 79 minutes, Thomas Frank’s men may just play better with less pressure on them. Away from home the shackles are off and they can play with more freedom. 

This will be tested to the limit on Sunday, the Gunners also drew their last match 2-2, but that was away from home to dark horses Sunderland. Before that they’d won their last 10 matches in all competitions. 

The set piece derby

Mikel Arteta’s side have been renowned for their set-piece danger for a while now. This is something that Frank and other Premier League clubs are starting to focus on more and more.

No team has scored more set-piece goals than Arsenal in the Premier League this season and no team has conceded fewer set-piece goals than Tottenham. To further concrete the evidence that both teams love a dead ball situation, Arsenal have scored the most goals from corners (8) and Tottenham have scored the second most (6)

These bitter rivals also lead the way with headed goals in the Premier League with seven and six respectively. Whether it’s a Kevin Danso long throw or a Declan Rice corner, we’re guaranteed to see some carnage in both boxes during this contest.

The injury factor

Pape Matar Sarr picked up a knock playing for Senegal and Lucas Bergvall was forced to withdraw from the Sweden squad after his concussion against Chelsea the other week. 

It was also revealed that Randal Kolo Muani fractured his jaw in the draw with Utd and Dominic Solanke probably won’t be fit either, so the team selection is becoming even harder for Frank. Mohammed Kudus didn’t travel with Ghana last week, so Spurs will be hoping he’ll be back in action this weekend.

Notwithstanding those problems on the Tottenham treatment table, this malaise has seemly filtered across the rest of North London with the red side also needing the help of the red cross. 

Arteta will be cursing the international fixtures as Gabriel, Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber have all picked up injuries. The thigh injury to Gabriel is particularly concerning for Arsenal, as his partnership pairing with William Saliba has been key to their success in recent seasons.

The league leaders have conceded just five goals in 11 games and the Brazilian has also notched up two goals, as he poses a constant threat in their set-piece routine.

Tottenham’s chance

The Tottenham frontline has continued to falter this season, but with the Arsenal defence looking rather depleted, this really is an intriguing derby match up.