That victory back in March 2014 thanks to an early Thomas Rosicky strike was the last time we triumphed at the home of our neighbours, as we look to get our first win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at the fourth attempt.
As usual, we’ll have to be wary of Harry Kane who has scored in all but one of his eight Premier League home games against us as he looks for the one goal he needs to equal Jimmy Greaves’ club-record tally of 266.
Mixed bag since World Cup
Spurs started the season in fine fashion, winning five and drawing two of their opening seven league games to sit third before their visit to the Emirates Stadium in October. However, our 3-1 defeat was the first of four in their next seven, and they also suffered an early exit in the League Cup to Nottingham Forest.
They did though top their Champions League group ahead of Eintracht Frankfurt, Sporting Lisbon and Marseille, picking up 11 points from their six matches to set up a last-16 tie with AC Milan in February.
Following the World Cup break, they came from two goals behind to draw at Brentford, but then lost to Aston Villa on New Year’s Day. A 4-0 win at Crystal Palace in their last league outing leaves them in fourth place and 11 points behind ourselves going into this round of fixtures, while FA Cup progress came via a slender win over League One Portsmouth last weekend.
What the managers say
Conte on us: “They have showed themselves to be a really good and really strong team. They are solid, but at the same time I think we have to look to ourselves.
“We have worked strong, worked hard and are working in the right direction.”
Arteta on Tottenham: “Sometimes they approach games in different ways. Sometimes they are very aggressive from the beginning and sometimes they allow you to make the game and they have a lot of tools to use to cause you problems.
“Let’s see how the game develops. We’ll prepare for any occasion in the best possible way and then it will be left to the players to do what they have to do on the pitch.” – read every word from Mikel’s pre-match press conference
Team news
Arteta believes that Bukayo Saka should be fit for this game despite limping off against Oxford United on Monday night.
After Emile Smith Rowe came on to replace him, that leaves just Gabriel Jesus and Reiss Nelson as our only players on the sidelines – hear Arteta provide an update on Jesus
Conte has suggested that he will have Dejan Kulusevski fit again, who missed the past two games through injury, but Rodrigo Bentancur is doubtful after failing to fully recovery from a hip injury.
Richarlison is also likely to be out with the hamstring problem he sustained in action for Brazil at the World Cup, while countryman Lucas Moura has missed every game since the return of domestic football with a heel issue.
Facts and stats
Spurs have only failed to score in one of their last 17 league games against us, finding the net in each of their last 10 since a 2-0 loss in November 2017.
We have won all six of our London derbies this season, keeping a clean sheet in all three away games. We’ve not won seven league derbies in a row since the 2007/08 campaign, which included home and away wins against Spurs.
Tottenham scored first for the first time in eight Premier League matches in their win against Crystal Palace last time out. They have scored more second half goals than any other side in the division this season (27), accounting for a league-high 73% of their total
Since the start of last term, no player has been directly involved in more London derby goals in the Premier League than Bukayo Saka (11 – 4 goals, 7 assists).
Tottenham have won 13 Premier League penalties against us, scoring 12. Harry Kane netted seven of those, with no player scoring more from the spot against a single side in the competition’s history.
Match officials
Craig Pawson takes charge of one of our games for the first time since our 3-0 win against Bournemouth back in August. It is his second north London derby, having overseen our 3-1 home victory last season.
We have won 14 of the previous 27 games of ours he has officiated, drawing three and losing 10. He is yet to show a red card this season from 20 games across all competitions.
- Referee: Craig Pawson
- Assistant Referee 1: Marc Perry
- Assistant Referee 2: Scott Ledger
- Fourth Official: Darren England
- VAR: Paul Tierney
- Additional VAR: Constantine Hatzidakis
Recent trips to Tottenham
02:01
Pires, Vieira, Kanu | Retro goals at the Lane
We haven’t enjoyed our trips across north London too much in recent years, with Spurs unbeaten in their last eight Premier League home games against us, winning their last three. The last saw them run out 3-0 victors in May, and they also claimed 2-0 and 2-1 successes in our other meetings at their new stadium.
However, one piece of good news is that they have never won four in a row at our expense in their league history. Our last point came back in March 2019 when Aaron Ramsey got on the scoresheet in a 1-1 draw, while our last win came in the League Cup in 2015 via a Mathieu Flamini brace.
That, plus many other memorable days at White Hart Lane, can be viewed in our classic playlist.
Breakdown Live
Nick and Adrian will be on air at Emirates Stadium from 3.30pm, looking back at our north London derby win earlier in the season. They’ll break down where our threats will be, as well as examining where Tottenham can cause us problems. As well as that, they’ll react to the WSL clash against Chelsea from earlier in the day, plus Frimmy will be in the away end giving us a sample of the derby day atmosphere. Then from 4.30pm, Dan Roebuck and Jonathon Rogers will be providing live commentary from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, informing Gooners around the world of how the afternoon is shaping up.
source: arsenal.com/
