
2nd-placed Arsenal host bitter North London rivals Tottenham on Wednesday night looking for a return to form.
This comes after being dumped out of the FA Cup to Manchester United and losing the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final at home against Newcastle in their previous 2 matches.
Mikel Arteta’s Gunners are 3 games without victory in all competitions and are 6 points behind leaders Liverpool in the title race so they can’t afford to drop further points when their neighbours visit The Emirates.
For Spurs, it’s been an inconsistent campaign so far, with Ange Postecoglou’s men down in 12th at the halfway stage of the season. They are a whopping 16 points behind Arsenal and 12 points off the Champions League places.
Tottenham are 15 points worse off than they were after the same number of games last term and despite an impressive 1st leg victory over Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-final last week, the season is currently a disappointing one. They eventually progressed past Tamworth after extra time in the FA Cup but Big Ange knows Tottenham’s recent run of results in the Premier League haven’t been good enough.
Spurs have taken just 1 point from the last 4 PL fixtures and have won only once in the previous 8 league games. Moreover, they have lost 6 of their last 10 matches in the league and another defeat here could pile the pressure on Postecoglou.
There’s no love lost between these two and in recent seasons it’s been The Gunners who have had the edge over their North London neighbours. Arsenal have won 6 out of the last 8 against Spurs and 3 of the last 4 against them on home soil.
However, Tottenham did manage a 2-2 draw in the fixture at The Emirates last campaign. Moreover, after securing resounding victories away at both Manchester United and Manchester City earlier in the season they are certainly capable of producing another result against Arteta’s title-chasing side.
Arteta has had to deal with a host of key first-team players being injured in recent weeks . This list was added to in the defeat against United at the weekend when striker Gabriel Jesus was stretchered off in the 1st half with what appears to be a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
The injury to the Brazilian forward means he joins long-term absentees Bukayo Saka and Ben White as well as Riccardo Calafiori and Ethan Nwaneri on the treatment table.
Similarly, Postecoglou has had injury concerns himself throughout this season, with goalkeepers Guglielmo Vicario and Fraser Forster both unavailable. This has meant that young Czech goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky has been thrust into being first-choice keeper, playing the previous 2 games and keeping 2 clean sheets.
Spurs have also suffered a lot of injuries to their defensive backline with the likes of Destiny Udogie, Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, and Ben Davies all ruled out. This had forced the head coach into numerous reshuffles at the back throughout the last few weeks particularly.
Djed Spence has fit in nicely though at left-back which can be seen as a positive to take from the situation.
Both sides have had patchy form in recent games, especially Spurs who have kept just 1 clean sheet in 8 PL fixtures and taken a miserly 5 points in the league from a possible 24 on offer.
For Tottenham, this type of game could be the one they use to finally kick on and push up the standings. They will be looking to drastically improve on their 8 points from the last 10 games and 4 defeats from the last 6 as they bid to stop the run of defeats in the league.
Similarly, despite being 2nd and unbeaten at home in the league, Arsenal have shown a vulnerability lately, with 1 clean sheet in 7 in all competitions and The Gunners conceding at least 1 goal in each of their last 4 games.
Looking into the markets available in this crucial clash at The Emirates and considering the fierce nature I expect the game to have, I’ve first considered the number of fouls in the match. In particular, the amount Tottenham’s James Maddison could be targeted by the Gunners.
Maddison is 8/11 with Betfair Sportsbook to be fouled over 2.5 times, and with an average of 3.3 fouls received in the PL away from home, I suspect the England international to be in for a rough ride whenever he gets on the ball. Moreover, Maddison is the 4th most fouled player in the whole PL and 2nd most away from home.
Only Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes has been on the receiving end of opposition fouls more. My concern and reason for ultimately not backing this selection is the fact that Maddison rarely plays 90 minutes and recently hasn’t been starting often.
Another key area of the game in my opinion is both defences and the frailties they possess. That’s why I considered the match result and both teams to score market with the draw and BTTS Yes best priced at 5/1 with bet365.
Seeing as both sides have struggled for clean sheets lately, coinciding with injuries to key players for both sides, I envisage Tottenham finding a goal as they so often do. Postecoglou’s outfit have only failed to score 4 times in their 20 league matches and with the 42 goals they’ve scored being the 2nd highest in total so far.
Likewise, I see the Gunners adding to their record of scoring in 8 of their 9 games in front of their own fans with the joint 3rd top scorers definitely capable of breaching the beleaguered backline of Spurs.
That being said, I’m playing this a little more cautiously and keeping the 0-0 on-side too by just backing the draw in the match result market at 17/4 with Ladbrokes. As seen so often in derby matches, form can go out of the window and I can see Tottenham raising their game and getting a result in this one.
I predict a tight and close encounter, with both teams seeing plenty of the ball which should make for an even match. Therefore, a share of the spoils looks overpriced in this by full-time, a result which would suit Spurs better than their North London hosts.
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