Tottenham Hotspur come into today’s North London Derby in desperate need of a win.
Back-to-back 3-0 defeats to London rivals Crystal Palace and Chelsea, have left them with a sour taste in their mouth after an impressive start to the season that saw them win three games on the spin 1-0, including an opening day win over champions Manchester City.
Today’s opponents, Arsenal have had the opposite start. After losing their opening three quite emphatically, they have picked up tight back-to-back 1-0 wins over Norwich and Burnley.
If Arsenal wins today, it will elevate them to level points with Tottenham. However, a Spurs victory will put the Gunners six behind again, while Spur can climb back into the top seven.
Nuno Espirito Santo has had his hand forced with many lineups this season due to injury or suspension, and today’s game is no exception.
Japhet Tanganga is set for a return to Premier League action after serving his suspension, while Lucas Moura is also back in contention for the game.
Steven Bergwijn and Ryan Sessegnon remain sidelined.
As a result of all this, we are predicting the lineup to look something like this:
Espirito Santo will go with a similar system to the one that worked against Chelsea in the first half.
Tanganga will return at centre-back alongside Eric Dier as he trusts this pair more than summer signing Cristian Romero.
Oliver Skipp will come into the midfield for extra insurance, while he will not risk aggravating Moura’s injury by starting him. Expect him to feature at some point though.
Upfront, Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son speak for themselves, while Nuno seems to like Alli behind the pair of them.
Dealing with Arsenal’s left side of attack will be key to winning this game, and if Spurs can exploit the spaces likely to be left by Kieran Tierney when they counter-attack, there is a good possibility of Spurs picking up a victory away at their fierce rivals.
We will know all the details at 3:30 pm today, so stay tuned.