Tottenham v Arsenal Preview

Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal, Sunday 3rd March 4pm, White Hart Lane, Premier League, Sky Sports 1


Premier League

1. Man U 68pts
2. Man C 56pts
3. Spurs 51pts
4. Chelsea 49pts
- - - -
5. Arsenal 47pts
6. Everton 42pts


Teams in fine league form heading into north London derby

The saying goes 'form goes out of the window in derbies' and that's certainly the case when it comes to the one in north London. History shows, particularly in recent seasons, form and positions in the table can't really help one judge the scoreline in this fixture.

It was in the 2008/09 campaign that Tottenham arrived at the Emirates bottom of the league, with just five points from nine games, and despite being 4-2 down with minutes to go, Harry Redknapp's side left with a point, coming back to draw 4-4. A similar example would be last season. On the back of an outstanding run of results, Spurs then found themselves 2-0 up on Arsenal territory and heading 13 points clear of the Gunners. But Arsenal, memorably, came back to win 5-2 - a victory which, of course, aided Arsene Wenger's side's epic late-season comeback, finishing one point ahead of Spurs come the season's end.

This time around, both sides are in confident league form. Arsenal have won 4 of their last 5 in the Premier League, while Andre-Villas Boas' men are unbeaten in the top-flight since December. 11 games without a defeat, and like the Gunners, coming into the derby on the back of three successive wins.


Top Four place at stake?

It's been suggested that should Spurs beat Arsenal on Sunday, it would put Villas-Boas' side out of reach for the gunners; the gap would be 7 points. It should be pointed out, though, it was a 7 point gap at this stage of last season too, before Arsenal took third spot in May.

On the other hand a victory for the away side this weekend would see the deficit cut to just a solitary point, with ten fixtures remaining. With Spurs' tougher schedule, on paper at least, any gap won't be impossible to make up, but you do sense the winners at White Hart Lane will take a massive boost in the race to secure Champions League football for 2013/14.

It's also plausible both teams could finish in the top four, like last season, with Chelsea in disarray.


Match Facts

* Tottenham have lost only one of their last seven league home games against rivals Arsenal.

* 12 of the last 13 league matches between Tottenham and Arsenal have gone over 2.5 goals.

* There have been 121 goals between these sides in Premier League history, only Everton v Man Utd games have seen as many.

* Tottenham have scored 11 goals from outside the area, more than any other Premier League side this season.

* Both these sides have scored five league goals from counter-attacks this season, no Premier League side has more in 2012-13.

* Olivier Giroud has had more headed attempts than any other player in the top-flight this season (26).

* No ground has featured fewer first half goals this season (10) than White Hart Lane.


Last season

Spurs 2-1 Arsenal (Oct 2, 2011); Walker's late strike won the derby after Ramsey had cancelled out Van der Vaart's opener.
XI: Szczesny; Sagna Mertesacker Song Gibbs; Arteta Coquelin; Walcott Ramsey Gervinho; RVP


Key Battle



Jan Vertonghen v Olivier Giroud

Both players are expected to start on Sunday and this battle could be influential in the outcome of the game. Despite Vertonghen's fine debut season in English football, he had a game to forget in the 5-2 loss against Arsenal earlier this season - at fault for two of the goals. Even if Spurs were down to 10 men, it was the Belgian's poor marking on Giroud will allowed the Frenchman to fire home from close-range that day. Giroud's debut campaign has been reasonable, influctuating from game to game. He will need to hold the ball up well, and be a focal point at White Hart Lane. With Walcott and Podolski (probably) flanking him and Cazorla just behind him, Giroud ought to have enough service to get on the score sheet. Vertonghen's reading of the game and tackling has been admirable. This should be a good battle.


Team News

Arsenal

Sagna (calf) and Gibbs (thigh) are out, while Diaby (knee) is rated as "50-50".

Tottenham

Dempsey (calf), Sandro (knee), Kaboul (knee) and Huddlestone (knee) are all out, but Defoe (ankle) has trained in recent days and is back in the squad.



Pre-match views

Arsène Wenger

"It is an interesting game because there is something at stake. We are confident and we are on a good run in the Premier League. If you look at our record, it is very good in recent games, so we will just focus on our strengths, that is it. Sunday is a very important game because it's in the final part of the Premier League season, the outcome will give a big boost to the team who wins it. This is a derby and will be a very intense game, as usual, it is always very tight, always a big fight. If you look at our record in the last 15 or 16 years, it is very good. Of course we want to continue to maintain that record."

André Villas-Boas

"The top four places won't be decided on this weekend, even seven points is still recoverable for a team like Arsenal. It's very tight bearing in mind the amount of games there are still to be played. But we know the importance of the fixture and how it can impact on the mood of both clubs. There is a pressure on both sides for this game. It will be a special one."

Lukas Podolski

"They are a very good team, very strong and they are third in the Premier League. I like derbies, it will be a tough match but we want the three points and we have the quality to win there. It is something special when it is a derby, for the fans and for the Club. When you play away at your rivals you must fight for the three points. It is a big game but it will not decide who will play in next season's Champions League. We have 11 matches to go and every match is like a final and we must fight to get into the Champions League next season. This is important to us."

Gareth Bale

"It's one we want to win. We started well last time and the sending-off was a problem. We want to rectify that score now and hopefully get the three points. We go into the game full of confidence, looking for three points to boost our hopes of getting into the Champions League. It's massive. We know how big it is - not just for us but for the fans."

ohh boy, it begins

Great preview Sam.

I cant wait for this game, it feels like a final game, hope we can get a good result. A win will be a major blow to the Spuds and will put us on track for top 4.

I just hope Wenger has a big talk with Jenk, he needs to stop with stupid tackles. Bale is not going to be easy to stop but we cant give him any room.

I hope Coq stars and not Ramsey, really dont trust Ramsey in this game.



--------------------Szczesny--------------------
--Jenkinson------Koscielny----Vermaelen-----Monreal--
--------------------Coq-------Arteta----------------
------Theo---------------Wilshere--------------Cazorla----
---------------------------Giroud------------------

Blah all Bale has is speed on the wing and an aging Sagna kept him in check in the past. Jenkinson'll have no problem keeping up with monkey boy

Wenger's Premier League record v Spurs: P33 W15 D14 L4 F64 A41

Lex wrote:Blah all Bale has is speed on the wing and an aging Sagna kept him in check in the past. Jenkinson'll have no problem keeping up with monkey boy

Jenkinson will get raped, lets be real here. few weeks back Sessegnon went through him no problem.

lol, last week after we beat Villa, Wenger said we can catch second place, when we win on Sunday he will say we can catch the United and be are the best team in world and have 2 quality players in every position.

Raptorgunner wrote:

Lex wrote:Blah all Bale has is speed on the wing and an aging Sagna kept him in check in the past. Jenkinson'll have no problem keeping up with monkey boy

Jenkinson will get raped, lets be real here. few weeks back Sessegnon went through him no problem.

That's cos Sessegnon used skill to get past him. Bale's punt and run won't work

Lex wrote:

Raptorgunner wrote:

Lex wrote:Blah all Bale has is speed on the wing and an aging Sagna kept him in check in the past. Jenkinson'll have no problem keeping up with monkey boy

Jenkinson will get raped, lets be real here. few weeks back Sessegnon went through him no problem.

That's cos Sessegnon used skill to get past him. Bale's punt and run won't work

Lets hope so, we need this game more than ever, no place for mistakes. Another 5-2 would be awesome.

Bale hardly plays on the wing anymore..... Arteta, Wilshere and maybe the two CBs will be bigger influences on Bale having a poor game than Jenkinson.

Anyway good luck, seeing as this game doesn't effect me at all i hope you win

Wenger: "Anytime I speak to players who left us, they always tell me they want to come back here, they regret leaving"

Did Wenger really say this?

Thank you Mole, good luck to your team.

I'm sure Hleb regrets leaving

Lex wrote:I'm sure Hleb regrets leaving

They all do eventually, I am sure Nasri loved it when he cam on to play 2min in a 2-0 over Chelsea.

Last year, with the season on the line, we pulled through. Let's hope we can do it again this year. Give good-guy Rosicky a start; he knows what this type of game means.

I'm actually predicting a draw though, since predicting a victory for one team over the other is too mainstream

Usually, I'd be worried about having Jenkinson go against Bale, but Bale plays differently nowadays. The reason for his success this season is because he's been given the freedom to come off the left flank and drift into central areas where he can more shots in at goal. Our central players will need to be fully aware this and ensure that they congest the space Bale has, which, given it's us, I'm not particularly confident of.

It's important that we press their midfield quickly, too, to prevent the ball from even reaching Bale in the first place. This would create the risk of a high line being caught out by their pace up front, but if we can win the ball back quickly, we might be able to get an overload down their left with Bale most likely occupying a central position.

It'd be interesting to see if they go with the same tactic they used at the Emirates earlier. Back then, they pressed our backline with four players and we struggled to cope with it. We didn't really start controlling the game until Adebayor got sent off. If they do, we'd need our midfield and Giroud to be really on their game and continually offer themselves as outlets; by overcoming that, we'd have 3v2 in midfield and there'd be spaces for us to exploit.

One thing I'm sure of is that Spurs won't sit back and let us play. They'll look to attack and get at us right from the start. I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up sitting back in our 4-4-1-1 looking for counter attacks.

It's a negative view but I think we'll lose this one. I'm not confident in our ability to keep Spurs out and we've hardly been impressive going forward. It's a cliche, but we need big games from everyone. This isn't the time for our typical "nervousness" and "psychological problems" in the big games.

Great stuff Sam.

Form is hardly of any importance when it comes to a derby, especially a derby as eccentric and unpredictable as the North London Derby. But it would be right to say that the fans and the players want to win THIS one more than any other in the past. Maybe it's fear among the Arsenal fans and i would say it is, mainly because this spurs team is probably the best in recent years. They have a manager who is better than they have had in a long long time.

A win would raise the morale like nothing else. For both clubs in a way. Of course with 10 more games after that it's not to say that this will cement our place in the top 4 but this will give us confidence to do that in an easier way, just like last year.

saying all this, i am the same as what jay said. I don't think we will win. We have only one 1 big game ALL season and that was because of a red card to Adebayor. Spurs have the "IT" factor with Bale and Dembele. They have the game changer and a game winner like we had last year. We have a huge psychological problem, i don't see us stepping up sadly.

But i am hoping for a good performance anyways, obviously being as optimistic as i am. Wenger can win this match with the right tactics and the players can win this match if they all turn up. Too much to ask but we have to stop Bale, and outscore them. I don't see this ending 0-0. They will score and we will score

we just need to outscore them.

GET IN THERE ARSENAL

Tottenham will win this,they are the better team nowadays and they are at home.My prediction,2 - 0.

If Tottenham win then I can't see Arsenal winning the CL next season.

Better team? Debatable at best, utter farce at worst

Wenger on Arsenal's reported £120m transfer budget: "If football was just about numbers, City/Chelsea would be champions every year."

Wenger on if Bale should go abroad: "Why? We have the best league. Players I speak to who left England want to come back."

Wenger on if there is a power-shift in North London: "I've answered this question for 15 years now."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib8SEnP6f-Q

Lex wrote:Better team? Debatable at best, utter farce at worst

You might want to check the Premier League table.We will see tomorrow anyway,if Tottenham win they will be 7 points ahead of you.

The old "look at the table" bollocks

Tottenham are above Chelsea, they better than them, too?

Also, if you care to look back at the table for the last 20 years, I think you'll find a significant pattern emerge before your eyes. I'll let you figure it out

Our '' so beloved 4th place '' is really in jeopardy. If Spurs win tomorrow we won't be able to catch them before the end unless G.Bale gets injured or something

As much as it hurts to say, i won't mind tottenham above us as long as we finish in the top 4. If that makes them finish 3rd and us 4th then let it be. Not a good thing to say but we are not that good to be making demands.