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 the German has been leading the line of late, and he comes into this game on the back of two goals in another London derby, so it would be strange to tinker that much with what worked so well on Tuesday night.

The fact that Spurs haven’t played since their 4-0 defeat to Newcastle is probably of some physical benefit to them, but I wonder if 15 days in April without a game is really a good thing. You might be fresher, but you’ve had more time to fester over a terrible result and performance, and the flip side of not playing is that you lose rhythm at a key part of the season.

It will be interesting to see if they modify their approach at all after that hammering at St James’ Park. Their high line was very high, their two centre-halves were pulled all over the place and run ragged by Isak and Gordon, and if they do that today, Arsenal’s forwards will be primed to expose that again – especially if someone line Martin Odegaard drops deep to make the kind of passes that could cause them problems. Think of the one he played for Havertz’s first goal against Chelsea. I think they probably will change it slightly by asking a midfielder to sit closer to the centre-halves, but you never know, because that’s just who they are mate.

Mikel Arteta says:

We know about the rivalry but I think you have to put that aside, you have to live the game with the intensity and passion that it demands. On top of that, we know what we are playing for so I don’t think we need anything special because the game has got everything that you need as a player to go and enjoy it.

This always has the potential to be a strange game, form goes out the window etc etc. Last season it felt like a fairly comfortable 2-0 win, but Aaron Ramsdale was man of the match after making a string of saves, so you have to bear that in mind. Pound for pound, I think we’re the better team with better players, but you always have to go out and earn a derby win, so let’s hope we can do that today.

Right, let’s leave it there for now. We’ll have all the usual live blog and post-game coverage on Arseblog News.

Come on you reds!

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