🕟 Kick Off: 20:00 GMT

📍 Location: Emirates Stadium, North London

📺 UK Broadcaster: TNT Sports

🙎🏻‍♂️ Referee: Simon Hooper

🔴 Arsenal Team News:

• Jesus has torn his ACL and will be out for up to a year.
• Nwaneri (muscular) is out with a mid-term injury.
• Saka (hamstring) is recovering from surgery and will be out for the next few months.
• Tomiyasu (knee) is an enigma and we haven’t received an update on him for weeks.
• Ben White (knee) is recovering from surgery and will be absent for the foreseeable.

⚽ Arsenal Form: 🟧(3-5 pens)🟥🟧🟩🟩

💩 Spurs Team News:

• Vicario (ankle) is on schedule to return at the end of February.
• Udogie (thigh) is expected to be out for six weeks, with a mid-February return likely.
• Bentancur (head) is recovering well after a concussion and will remain out until late January.
• Ben Davies, Cristian Romero, and Micky van de Ven (all thigh injuries) are slated to return at the end of January.
• Richarlison (thigh) is completing a structured training program and could return mid-January.
• Forster is dealing with illness and is being assessed; he has a 25% chance of featuring in the next match.
• Odobert (thigh) remains out indefinitely following surgery on his hamstring.

⚽ Spurs Form: 🟩🟩🟥🟧🟥

⚔️ Head-to-Head:

• Spurs 0-1 Arsenal (15th Sep 2024, Premier League)
• Spurs 2-3 Arsenal (28th Apr 2024, Premier League)
• Arsenal 2-2 Spurs (24th Sep 2023, Premier League)
• Spurs 0-2 Arsenal (15th Jan 2023, Premier League)
• Arsenal 3-1 Spurs (1st Oct 2022, Premier League)

📖 Match Facts:

• Spurs haven’t beat Arsenal since May 2022 in a match where Rob Holding got two yellow cards in the space of 7 minutes to get sent off before half time.
• Spurs have only beaten Arsenal at the Emirates in the League once which was in 2010. Arsenal were winning 2-0 at half time and would go on to lose 2-3.
• Spurs score the 2nd highest goals per match in the league at 2.1, closely followed by Arsenal at 2.0.

🎲 Odds (Betway):

• Arsenal – 17/40
• Draw – 17/4
• Spurs – 5/1

✍🏼 Pre-Match Ramblings

Yes, we’re playing the North London Derby at 8pm on a Wednesday night. The scheduling for this fixture is an absolute farce. One of the biggest derbies in world football should not be midweek.

Right, now that that’s out of the way…

Here we go again. Recovered from the United game yet? Me neither. I dread to think how the players are feeling. And when I say players, I mean the dozen or so who are actually fit. I went back and looked at the post I wrote for the reverse fixture earlier in the season, and the big discussion was around our injury list and the absence of Rice due to his red card. Welp, 3 months later and here we are again (sans the Rice absence).

In fairness, Spurs also have a sizeable injury list. They are missing both of their starting centerbacks. The difference is that Spurs have already entered the market and came out with a goalkeeper to fill a hole in their squad. Antonin Kinsky hit the ground running and put in a MOTM performance against Liverpool in an EFL Cup semi final, where he kept a clean sheet and put them into pole position to progress into the final.

We are really out of options when it comes to our attack. The front three will be Trossard, Havertz, and Martinelli. Unless Arteta surprises everyone and starts Sterling, of course. Trossard is massively underperforming his xG at the moment, Havertz may never score a goal again after a horrific week of missed chances, and Martinelli hasn’t been at his best for over a season now. Set Piece again ole ole may be in order for us to score any goals at this point.

With Liverpool visiting a formidable Nottingham Forest, who are the only team to beat Liverpool in the league this season, three points are not guaranteed for them. We need to start making up ground if we want to sustain a push for the title. We could find ourselves behind Nottingham Forest if both us and Liverpool drop points.