North London Derby preview: Stakes are high

There have been some high stakes North London derbies in the past – you can go back 20 years ago this week to recollect how we won the league at White Hart Lane in the Invincibles season – but in the modern era this one is right up there. Even the game to help decide who would qualify for the Champions League a couple of seasons ago doesn’t come close to this one.

In as much as it’s possible to leave rivalry aside in a fixture like this, both sides need the win. Arsenal to extend our lead at the top of the Premier League, albeit temporarily as Man City will batter Nottingham Forest later. While Aston Villa’s draw with Chelsea last night means Spurs can overtake them if they win all their games in hand. Add the long-standing enmity and derby fuel to that, and it’s quite the cocktail.

In terms of today’s team, I don’t think it’ll change too much from the one that beat Chelsea. Assuming there’s no damage from that horrendous Nicolas Jackson challenge, I expect Takehiro Tomiyasu to start at left-back today, and while there’s part of me that thinks Gabriel Martinelli’s pace and direct running would be a great weapon against Spurs’ high defensive line, his recent form and that of Leandro Trossard probably makes the Belgian the right choice.

In midfield, I’ve seen a lot of chat about how it should be Thomas Partey after his performance against Chelsea, but Lewis made a good point in our preview podcast about how – in the first half – we were quite open through central midfield at times. Uncharacteristically so for Arsenal this season, and if Chelsea had had semi-competent forwards, they might have done some actual damage in the first 45 minutes. Whatever else you’d say about today’s opposition, they certainly have that, and I suspect that it will be Jorginho in midfield today unless Arteta does something unexpected and shifts Kai Havertz back to play Gabriel Jesus.

That would be a surprise though, not least because of how effective…

Source link : https://arseblog.com/2024/04/north-london-derby-preview-stakes-are-high/

Author : arseblog

Publish date : 2024-04-28 07:27:09

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.