The highlight of the week in England after the international break is undoubtedly the north London derby, with Arsenal making the short trip to Tottenham’s glamorous new stadium for a spicy PL showdown.
This will be the 65th meeting between these two sides in the competition’s history, with Arsenal gaining the upper hand in this battle. The Gunners have won 24 of 65 meetings while Tottenham have won 15.
Difficult start to the season for Spurs
It hasn’t been a good start to the season for Ange Postecoglu, something he would have liked to avoid after a disappointing second half of the season last year. This can be seen as the ideal match for them to kick off and kick off their season and they will be grateful that new signing Dominic Solanke and key defender Micky Van de Ven are close to returning from injury. There can be no better game to get the fans back on your side than a derby win and Tottenham will be looking to reverse a recent poor run, with one win in their last seven meetings. None of the last 22 PL matches played by Tottenham at home have ended in a stalemate, so this result seems unlikely. The Spurs have won fifteen of the last twenty-two games, which is not a bad record for a series that goes back to April 2023.
Arsenal are worried
Arsenal will not be happy with what happened during the recent international break, losing their captain, their key player, to injury. On a more positive note, manager Mikel Arteta has just signed a new three-year contract with the club, so stability will be the order of the day for years to come. This first match following this new contract will certainly test him since he has no less than six first team players unavailable. Declan Rice is also unavailable due to suspension following his rather ridiculous sending off before the break. However, this is precisely why the best teams have great squads and it will be used in this match if Arsenal hope to maintain their recent good record against their nearest and fiercest rivals. Arsenal will need to win matches like this, in difficult circumstances, if they hope to become a serious challenger for the title, which they have not won in more than two decades. Their away record is good, having gone undefeated in 2024 and managing eight clean sheets in that stretch.
Final Thoughts
This is usually a high-scoring match and both teams scoring is always a good choice, as this match has more instances than any other in PL history where this result has occurred, 43 in total. The visitors will be favorites to win the match and over 2.5 are also favored. James Maddison is likely to be key for the home side, he scored two goals in his first north London derby last season and he will be looking to get a point after missing out on playing for England during the recent break international. As for Arsenal, Bukayo Saka has been the man in form of late and he scored in both derbies last season.
Supporters of both clubs will be desperate to get the upper hand on their nearest rivals as this match takes on added importance this weekend, with both teams unable to really tolerate defeat as they aim to go further than the last year, even though they are league champions. for the visitors or a top four for Tottenham.
Last updated: 12.09.24
