The North London Derby Day kicks off tomorrow at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with Arsenal as the team in form. Arsenal’s defeats to Manchester City and Brighton and Hove Albion set alarm bells ringing but they are currently on a five-game unbeaten run.
Tottenham Hotspur, in contrast, are coming off the back of a dreadful performance at Bournemouth. Spurs, despite their glut of strikers, failed to even hit the target once. That was the first time any team had failed to so against the Cherries since 2015 when they were still in the Championship.
North London Derby – Arsenal the Team in Form as Tottenham Hotspur Must Improve
Tottenham’s Lack of Fight Cause for Concern
Tottenham look like a squad that has come to its end. They have in reality looked like that even before last seasons Champion’s League Final. Poor results eventually cost Mauricio Pohcettino his job and Jose Mourinho cuts a very lonely figure at Spurs.
Harry Kane looks short on fitness, Tanguy N’Dombele came on against Bournemouth but still looks unfit. Son Heung-Min has gone from lethal striker to a headless chicken, Lucas Moura puts in the effort but rarely succeeds and Serge Aurier is simply not delivering anything positive to the cause.
Not having a strike on target against Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth was woeful. Jose Mourinho needs to limp over the line this season but must rebuild next season. If he doesn’t this Spurs side will be a bottom half team for some time. Things really are that bad.
Arsenal In Form
Manchester City walked through Arsenal like they weren’t there in the first game back. An away defeat followed to Brighton and it was doom and gloom once more around the Emirates. Since then, Mikel Arteta has rallied his troops and wins against Southampton, Sheffield United (FA Cup), Norwich City and Wolverhampton Wanderers have seen the Gunners leap ahead of their arch-rivals in the Premier League table. There is only one point in it but on current performances, it is going to be tough for Spurs to get points, let alone three of them.
Prediction
Tottenham have managed two clean sheets in a row so there is a positive. The issue is creating and scoring goals. Arsenal are still shaky at the back so if Spurs can sort out their striking woes, they could nick something here.
Arsenal are in form and will fancy getting all three points. Should Spurs turn up and find some fluency, a score draw would be a good outcome.
Prediction – Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Arsenal
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