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Tottenham Face Arsenal In Huge North London Derby

Buckle up, folks – things are about to get serious. There are only 10 games remaining for all 20 teams in the Premier League, which can mean only one thing: it’s crunch time. Clubs up and down the division are starting to put the pieces in place for one final surge to end the campaign, which is going to mean some pretty entertaining games moving forward for the fans. There’s a lot on the line from the title race all the way down to the relegation battle, and we’re here to unpack everything that could go down between now and May.

We’re going to start off that journey by looking at the biggest game of the weekend: Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal. The North London derby is always going to be a must watch encounter regardless of the circumstances, but this time around, it should be just as intriguing as it always has been. These two teams are both battling it out to secure a place in the top four, and in addition to that, they’re got respective European ambitions to deal with too. There’s a lot riding on this game, because neither team can really afford the humiliation of being beaten by their closest rivals at this stage of the season.

Tottenham need to steady themselves after a few bumps in the road, as their fans continue to endure what has already been a rollercoaster season up to this point. They’ve long since claimed that they’ve taken over as the kings of North London, but there needs to be some proof to back up that kind of statement. Mauricio Pochettino is going to be preparing his side as if this was a cup final in itself, but it doesn’t really matter how the three points come – as long as they’re able to grind it out.

Arsenal are starting to believe that they can have a successful first season under Unai Emery after all. It seemed like their 22 game unbeaten run was going to be a distant memory following a poor run of form, but now, they’re starting to build themselves back up again as top four contenders. They’ve got a highly talented squad with a good base, and they’re starting to really gel as a cohesive unit. They have their own tendencies that need to be rectified, but all that matters this weekend is picking up the win by any means necessary.

Tottenham’s last six game stretch actually started off in a really positive way, as they secured four consecutive wins in the Premier League and Champions League. They edged their way past Watford and Newcastle before putting in an impressive performance against Leicester, but their most remarkable win came against Borussia Dortmund as they battered the Bundesliga leaders 3-0 at Wembley. Unfortunately, things started to go a little bit downhill from there, as they suffered two shock losses to both Burnley and Chelsea which brought their slim Premier League title hopes to an end (or so it seems).

Arsenal have also had their fair share of setbacks, kicking off their most recent run with a 3-1 defeat to champions Manchester City. They managed to narrowly defeat Huddersfield Town, before a somewhat embarrassing 1-0 defeat away to BATE Borisov in the Europa League. They pulled it back in the second leg with a 3-0 win to get themselves into the next round, and they’ve kept that momentum going ever since. They beat Southampton 2-0 in what was a really nice performance and in their last game earlier in the week, they tore through Bournemouth with ruthless efficiency in a 5-1 triumph at the Emirates.

Despite Tottenham’s resurgence in the last decade or so, there’s no denying that Arsenal have always been in control of this rivalry. They lead 82-64 in the overall head to head standings with 51 draws, dating all the way back to 1896 when they first met. This season has been particularly interesting when it comes to their meetings, as they’re locked at one win apiece. Arsenal beat Spurs 4-2 at the start of December in the Premier League, but Pochettino’s men were able to gain a measure of revenge just 17 days later when they knocked Arsenal out of the Carabao Cup.

Eric Dier is expected to miss out once again for Spurs, as he continues his recovery from tonsillitis. Vincent Janssen will also continue to sit out, although the biggest absence of all will be Dele Alli who usually seems to thrive in games of this variety. Kieran Trippier is expected to lose his place in the starting line up following a series of poor performances, and rightly so in the eyes of many Spurs fans. Jan Vertonghe is hoping to return in some capacity after he picked up a minor hip injury, as Poch prepares to make what should be his most interesting team selection of the season so far.

Sead Kolasinac missed most of the second half against Bournemouth, with a muscle injury rendering him unable to continue. He’s going to be a doubt for this game, with Koscielny also struggling – although the latter is more likely to feature. Carl Jenkinson could be considered again with Maitland-Niles and Lichtsteiner struggling for fitness, although Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey will both be hoping to make an impact after recovering from their own issues. Aside from all of that, the Gunners should still be lining up with a pretty strong team.

Tottenham vs Arsenal Betting Prediction

We’ve noted that form goes out of the window in games of this magnitude, and with that in mind, we’re predicting that Tottenham Hotspur will defeat Arsenal this weekend. They’re going to set themselves up in an attacking manner, and we think their pace and ability to move the ball around early in the game is going to be too much for the Gunners to handle. We can picture them building a two goal lead heading into the second half, before they just end up playing around with the visitors right up until the final whistle.

Arsenal will probably pull a goal back along the way, but it isn’t going to be enough. They’ll put in a good performance at times, but we just think that if you were to match both teams up against one another at their peak, Tottenham are just better. Their inconsistency has been a big problem this season and that’ll continue to be the case between now and May, but if they can secure the three points here, they’ll be taking a huge step towards securing a place in the top four. That’ll be key, too, as the return of the Champions League is right around the corner.