Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur: Match Thread.

Arsenal take on Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates Stadium this Saturday in the North London Derby. Both teams go into this game in poor form. Arsenal could only manage a 3-3 draw against Fulham at home in their last league game, the Gunners raced to a two goal lead, but like they did in Schalke, they threw that lead away as Fulham scored twice to level the scores before half-time. Mikel Arteta fouled Bryan Ruiz in the penalty area and gave away a penalty to the away side. Dimitar Berbatov converted the spot kick and Fulham took the lead with just 20 minutes left on the clock. But, Olivier Giroud scored his second goal of the game to get the Gunners level again and in the 94th minute, they won a soft penalty that gave them the chance to take all three points. Mikel Arteta stepped up and missed and Arsenal had to do with a disappointing point. This result condemned Arsenal to their worst start in the league after eleven games since the 1982-83 season and has seen Arsenal fall behind the likes of West Ham and West Brom in the League table. Tottenham Hotspur come into the North London Derby with back to back defeats in the league. Their latest defeat came against Manchester City at the Ethiad Stadium. Spurs took the lead after Steven Caulker headed in from a Tom Huddlestone free-kick. But Spurs could not hold on to their lead as Sergio Aguero levelled the scores before Edin Dzeko grabbed the winner for the home side. After making a poor start under the management of Andres Villas Boas, Spurs recovered and were well place in the table but have since slipped up and now like Arsenal find themselves out of the top four and below the likes of West Ham and West Brom. The last North London Derby will live long in the memories of Arsenal fans and it proved to be the turning point in the fortunes of Spurs and Arsenal last season. Tottenham came into that game with a ten point lead over the Gunners, and after taking a two goal lead, Spurs had Arsenal down for the count. The response was stunning as Arsenal blitzed Spurs and put five goals past them and in doing so they did indeed turn their season around. In the end, Arsenal once again finished above Spurs and with Chelsea winning the Champions League, Spurs despite coming fourth, had to make do with Europa League football. If the derby on Saturday can be half as good as the previous North London Derby, then we are in for a treat.

Spurs like Arsenal lost key players during the last summer transfer window and have since started rebuilding their squad but they have had to do that with a new manager, unlike Arsenal. Harry Redknapp was sacked and Daniel Levy turned to Andre Villas Boas to try and get Spurs back into the Champions League. Villa Boas had failed in his last job at Chelsea so Levy was taking a risk in appointing him. The first thing the new Spurs manager had to do was to deal with the departure of Luka Modric who was finally sold to Real Madrid. Modric had been the main man in the Spurs midfield under Redknapp and he established himself as one of the best midfielders in the league, so it was a big loss for Spurs, but they also got a big fee for the Croatian from Madrid. Replacing him was not an easy task but Spurs did recruit the excellent Moussa Dembele from Fulham for £15 Million and in his short time at Spurs, he has proved to be a bargain. Spurs have only been at their best this season when Dembele has been running their midfield. With the Belgian injured, Spurs have lost three of their last five league game.

Spurs also managed to lure Hugo Lloris from Lyon during the summer transfer window and at the time it looked to be one of the best buys of the summer. But he has only started one league game despite being rated as one of the best keepers in Europe. AVB has instead kept Brad Freidel as his number one, and it’s a decision that has upset many Spurs fans. Moussa Dembele was not the only Belgian that Spurs recruited in the summer, the other was Jan Vertonghen from Ajax. A very highly rated and classy defender who has slotted into the Spurs set up without much fuss. In attack, Jermain Defoe has been the man that has been getting the goals for Tottenham this season. He has five league goals to his name and Defoe with his pace and movement as well as his lethal finishing will be a huge threat to an Arsenal defence that has been on a rapid decline in form. Spurs as always have plenty of pace on the wings with Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon. Both have caused Arsenal plenty of problems in the past and how Arsenal deal with this threat will have a huge effect on the game. Against City, Spurs could not get their wide men into the game and thus, failed to apply any pressure on the City defence. Bacary Sagna has had some very good battles with Garth Bale in the past and he will have to be at his best if he is to nullify the Welshmen.

Olivier Giroud got his first league goals at the Emirates last Saturday and against Fulham he put in his best performance in an Arsenal shirt. Giroud was deadly in the air and on the floor he was finally able to link the play. He is also starting to form a good relationship with Theo Walcott, who provided Giroud with two assists. The Englishmen got his first league start since August and Walcott has been able to give Arsenal a cutting edge with his ability to get in behind defences. Walcott bagged a brace against Spurs in the last North London Derby and Arsenal will need Walcott in top form on Saturday if they want to be at their creative best. Jack Wilshere returns from his one game suspension and as a player that was produced in the Arsenal youth set up he will know what this game means and Wilshere will be looked upon to take control of the Arsenal midfield. In recent games and especially against Fulham, Arsenal have not been able to control the midfield and Mikel Arteta was not able to assert any sort of control on the game. Santi Cazorla will again be the man that will need to create for Arsenal but Cazorla is getting less and less time on the ball as teams try and limit his influence. Sandro has been in excellent form for Tottenham and he will the man that looks to try and contain Cazorla in the midfield for Tottenham. Last season, Arsenal’s win over Tottenham at the Emirates turned their season around and it gave them a much needed boost to their moral and confidence. With another North London Derby looming, Arsenal are in need of a positive performance and a result as their season could be danger of fizzling out into nothing. Arsenal fans are restless and a defeat against Tottenham on Saturday will leave a huge cloud of doubt over the future of Arsene Wenger. But Wenger has seen his team turn up and put in performances that defy the critics and he needs one of those performance from his team on Saturday against the old enemy. It’s become the biggest and most important game in Arsenal's league campaign and if recent history is anything to go by, we could be in for yet another classic between Arsenal and Spurs.​

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