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Tottenham v Arsenal Preview | Team News, Key Men and Stats

On February seventh, the 169th edition of the North London derby will take place with Arsenal travelling to White Hart Lane to take on Tottenham.  It’s a huge cliche, but this really is one of those fixtures where you can forget about form.  This is one of the biggest games of the season for both teams with each one of them wanting to get one over on their arch rivals.  With only two points separating the two sides, this match takes on a huge significance not only in the rivalry, but also in the league table.  The North London derby has been known to throw up some crazy results and some crazy scorelines and we should be in for an absolute cracker.

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Team News

Mauricio Pochettino will have his entire squad available to him with no injuries and Nabil Bentaleb coming back from the African Cup of Nations.  Arsenal are usually in an injury crisis, but they have been getting a lot of their players back recently. However, being Arsenal, the Gunners have been dealt a fresh blow with Alexis Sanchez being unavailable for the derby.  They will still be missing the likes of Mathieu Debuchy, Jack Wilshere and Mikel Arteta to long term injuries.  Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also looks like he will miss out with his groin problem.  Danny Welbeck will be back from his injury and should make the squad.

Interesting Statistics

Both of Tottenham’s last two wins against Arsenal were at White Hart Lane and they both ended 2-1, a scoreline they have been known to win by a lot this season.  Despite playing three times, Tottenham did not score against Arsenal last season allowing the Gunners to beat them three times.  The last four meetings between the sides have all had two or fewer goals.  The nine meetings previous to those all had at least three goals.  No side in the top half of the table has conceded more goals than Spurs.  No team in the league have drawn fewer games than Mauricio Pochettino’s men.

Key Men

Tottenham: Harry Kane

Tottenham have been looking for a great goalscorer for the past couple of seasons.  After failing with the signings of Soldado and Adebayor, they seem to have found the answer to their prayers within their squad in the shape of Harry Kane.  The 21 year old has been on form this season scoring 20 goals in all competitions.  While a good number of those goals have come in the Europa League, he still has 10 goals in a mere 13 starts.  No one really expected this kind of production from Kane, but he has taken his chance in the first team and delivered the goals that Spurs need.

Arsenal: Santi Cazorla

After starting the season inconsistently, Santi Cazorla has been different class in the last two months.  The little Spaniard has posted six goals (five of which were penalties) and five assists in his last 10 matches.  Even with those overwhelming stats, the overall performances of the 30 year old have been even more impressive than his stats.  He has dominated matches recently, including away to the Etihad where he was easily the best player on the pitch.  Cazorla has always been great going forward, but he has shown a defensive solidity in recent months that has taken his game up another level.  Arsene Wenger will hope his diminutive Spanish magician can dominate again and get his team a huge three points.

Prediction

You can usually expect a lot of goals from a North London derby.  There have been some crazy results, from 4-4, 5-4, 3-3, 5-2, this fixture usually has lots of goals.  All that said, I have a feeling this fixture will be more similar to the last four where no more than two goals have been scored than the previous nine.  I think this will be a very close game and I think the points will end up being shared.

Prediction: 1-1 Draw

thejerseyfitz
thejerseyfitz
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