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By Bulldog Drummond
As we have already noted, the head to head is showing matches going very much in Arsenal’s favour of late when Arsenal are at home, Tottenham getting the better of Arsenal at WHL, but even so not as dominant over Arsenal, as Arsenal are when they are at home.
Tottenham and Arsenal are level on points with Tottenham three goals better off. A win will of course take Arsenal three points clear of Tottenham, a win by two clear goals will also give Arsenal a better goals difference than Tottenham.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 3 | 13 | 18 |
| 2 | Tottenham Hotspur | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 13 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 13 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 13 |
Liverpool are at home to West Ham and would be expected to win, so the win will probably lift Arsenal to third, leaving Liverpool in second.
The Guardian expects Tottenham (as ever generally known in the media by their familiar name while Arsenal is known in the paper by its formal name thus giving us all a constant insight into their views) to press high up the pitch in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
The Telegraph notes Arsenal’s dominance although once again always using Arsenal’s formal name but adopting Tottenham’s familiar name. And interestingly they note that the referee will be “the relatively inexperienced Rob Jones on Sunday as opposed to one of the more familiar names within the officiating ranks.”
Jones has taken charge of 53 Premier League games since joining the rotation of top-level referees in 2019.
So what we have is the record of Arsenal having won 86, and Tottenham 67 of the games overall, with 54 draws.
It is also interesting to note the comparative placements of the two clubs in the last ten years:
| Sesaon | Arsenal league pos | Arsenal FAC | Tottenham league pos | Tottenham FAC |
| 2013–14 | 4th | W | 6th | R3 |
| 2014–15 | 3rd | W | 5th | R4 |
| 2015-16 | 2nd | QF | 3rd | R5 |
| 2016-17 | 5th | W | 2nd | SF |
| 2016–17 | 5th | W | 2nd | SF |
| 2017-18 | 6th | 3rd | 3rd | R4 |
| 2018–19 | 5th | 4th | 4th | R5 |
| 2019–20 | 8th | W | 6th | R5 |
| 2020–21 | 8th | 4th | 7th | R5 |
| 2021–22 | 5th | 3rd | 4th | R5 |
| 2022–23 | 2nd | 4th | 8th | R5 |
What is interesting is that the current Tottenham downturn of coming 6th, 7th and 8th in three of the last four seasons, is not too far away from Arsenal coming fifth twice and 8th twice between 2019 and 2022.
So in the last ten years, both clubs have come second twice, but when we come to measure the number of seasons ending in league in the top four Tottenham, Tottenham have done that six times to Arsenal’s four. But of course the big difference comes with the FA Cup wherein Arsenal have won it four times in the last ten years while Tottenham have just two semi-final finishes to their name.
The latest Arsenal injury news is that Gabriel Martinelli will be assessed before the game, while Thomas Partey is still out with a goin strain, and Timber is of course out for the long term.
Tottenham also have a long term injury with Ivan Perisic and Giovani Lo Celso, Bryan Gil and Rodrigo Bentancur all still some time away from returning.
The BBC have come up with a nice but utterly irrelevant oddity: this is the first time that both sides come into this fixture unbeaten since 1990, when the pair drew 0-0 at Highbury in the third game of the season. They also tell us that if Tottenham don’t win, this will be just second time Arsenal is undefeated after six Premier League matches for just the second time in the past 16 seasons. The only Arsenal manager to win each of his first four home North London derbies, was Terry Neill between 1977 and 1980. So another little target for Arteta.
Meanwhile, this is best start for Tottenham to a season in 58 years and a win for them would be their 200th away victory.
Sports Mole go for 3-1 to Arsenal with a team of
Raya
White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko
Odegaard, Rice, Vieira
Saka, Jesus, Trossard
Sofascore give the same line up but no score.
90 Min have a team that is again exactly the same, so I think we can say that is what the pundits are thinking.
Eddie in for Trossard is the only change from the players listed above.
COYG
Raya ‘s distribution is off today.
What a mistake from Jorginho…. cost us 2 points today.
It took Guardiola long enough to realise you need a big proven goalscorer. The game shoud have been dead and buried by half time but we are not ruthless enough. Jorginho don’t turn into players and lose the ball there. Martinelli and Trossard big misses while Vieiara not physically strong enough.
Disappointing to have to make do with a draw from a game we should have comfortably won. A game we probably would have won but for yet another goal conceded as a result of a careless, unnecessary mistake from one of our own players. Last season we conceded more goals from individual errors than any other team in the division and this season we are continuing in the same vein. We rarely concede a goal from our opponents clever play, it’s nearly always because we present them with one, gift wrapped on a plate. Add to that missing a simple chance (Jesus) which would have put us two up and so we got what we deserved I suppose.
It must infuriate Mikel because our general play today was, as it mostly is, outstanding, especially in the first half.
Rotten luck with injuries at the moment which doesn’t help but even so we should of won.
Not at our best today, but even so we should of been 3 up and out of sight after 30 minutes.
A shame but not a disaster.
Timber, Party, Martinelli, Trossard, Rice, Vieira and even Saka, all down by the end of the day, so all in all hardly surprising we were not at our best today. Even so we still shaded it and should have won.
Certainly not going to start moaning or having a pop at players.
Fingers crossed no more long term injuries.
A few beers and look forward to the next match.
Yes, it was a disappointing result from what was an exciting match. I feel that we played better in the first half, they in the second half and that overall we had the better chances. It was a mistake from an experienced player that did us in. This was not a disaster and we carry on.
Result pivoted on 2 crucial moments.
Jesus’s miss and Jorginho’s miss control.
Jesus scores and we go on to win comfortably. Jorginho clears and we hang on comfortably. On such small margins are games won and lost, or indeed drawn.
Not sure why Jesus didn’t place it. Jorginho brain fart moment.
For a reason I cannot understand, we basically start each game one goal down, as we seem to always gift the opponents one goal because of a poor pass, a lapse in concentration, whatever
Surely someone at Arsenal has the analytical tools to realise this…. tha being said, it goes back at least a decade….
Apart from that, I believe we were seing layers not yet fully recovered from their first CL mid-week game.
But all teams playing in Europe have the issue, so it is no excuse.