Quite the time for a North London Derby, eh? Arsenal are struggling to win matches and have seen their lead atop the table trimmed to two points. Tottenham have been off for 12 days with new man Igor Tudor at the helm. The Gunners have no room for error anymore — dropped points would give Manchester City a chance to overtake them atop the table. Spurs are four points above the final relegation spot with today’s match in hand.
There’s no shortage of stats, facts, figures, and tactical discussion to
unpack, but for Arsenal, this match is more about mental strength and belief. I don’t think the outside discussion affects the inside of the locker room much at all — the players won’t be bothered about what people are saying about them. They will, however, be feeling the effects of this dip in form and some disappointing results. The task for them is to shake that off and get back to playing how they (should) know they can and how they’ve shown they can.
Arsenal are significantly better than Tottenham. They need to believe that and play like it. Don’t let the emotions of the derby even the playing field. Put the recent run of results out of mind and start a new winning run right now. Make their mark on the game and the season by refusing to go the same way as two and three seasons ago. Be defiant and write their own, new story. It’s time to remind everyone how good this team is.
They’ll be buoyed by good news on the injury front: Kai Havertz, Martin Ødegaard, and Max Dowman all face late fitness tests for Arsenal with a good chance that one (or more) make the lineup. Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard are both available. Mikel Merino is likely out for the season.
Tottenham are not expected to get any of their injured players back for today’s match. Dominic Solanke’s training week was disrupted by illness but is good to go. Richarlison has returned to training but not yet fit. Kevin Danso, James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Destiny Udogie, Pedro Porro, Wilson Odobert, Lucas Bergvall, Mohammed Kudus, Rodrigo Bentancur, and Ben Davies are all out injured. Cristian Romero will serve the second match of his four-match ban.
Lineups will be posted when available.
WHO: Arsenal at Tottenham Hotspur
WHERE: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
WHEN: Sunday, February 22nd, 8:30 am PT | 11:30 am ET | 4:30 pm GMT
HOW TO WATCH: Broadcast on USA
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