Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur preview: Spurs aiming to end Gunners’ North London supremacy

Arsenal welcomes North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur to the Emirates on Sunday afternoon in a thrilling North London derby.

The Gunners dropped points to Sunderland after they drew 2-2 with the Black Cats at the Stadium of Light just before the international break.

Spurs also fell to a late equaliser with Manchester United in a 2-2 stalemate last time out.

Match preview

Arsenal have won five of their last six Premier League games against Tottenham (D1), including the last three in a row. It’s their longest winning run against Spurs since a five-game stretch between January 1987 and January 1989.

Tottenham have lost seven of their last nine Premier League games against Arsenal (W1 D1), as many defeats as they’d suffered in their previous 25 north London derbies (W9 D9).

Mikel Arteta’s side have lost just one of their last 32 Premier League home games against Tottenham (W19 D12), going down 3-2 in November 2010.

Spurs are the only side still unbeaten away from home in the Premier League this season (W4 D1). They have the joint-most points (13), the joint-most goals (12) and the fewest goals conceded (3) of any side on the road this term.

The Gunners have scored in each of their last 26 Premier League home games against Tottenham, netting at least twice in each of the last eight.

Arsenal have scored more goals from set pieces (excluding penalties), both overall (10) and as a percentage (50%), than any other side in the Premier League this season. Meanwhile, no side has conceded fewer set-piece goals than Spurs this season (2).

Spurs boss Thomas Frank won his first ever Premier League game in charge against Arsenal in August 2021 but has since been winless in seven against the Gunners (D2 L5).

This will be the first Premier League north London derby without either Harry Kane or Son Heung-min appearing for Tottenham since a 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium in September 2014.

Team news

Arsenal

Gabriel limped off with a thigh injury in Brazil’s friendly match against Senegal at the Emirates, and Riccardo Calafiori also misses national duties with Italy and is out with a hip discomfort.

Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Martinelli missed matches before the international break with hamstring and muscle injuries, respectively.

Long-term absentees Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz and Noni Madueke miss out. Gabriel Jesus has returned to training after being sidelined with a knee injury for 11 months.

Tottenham Hotspur

Pape Sarr was also injured in the Brazil vs Senegal game and is out for the short trip across North London.

Lucas Bergvall returned early for international duty due to concussion concerns.

Ben Davies and Radu Dragusin are back in training after their respective injuries.

Dominic Solanke, Dejan Kulusevski, Yves Bissouma and James Maddison remain sidelined and unavailable for the visitors.

Predicted line-ups

Arsenal: David Raya, Jurriën Timber, William Saliba, Cristhian Mosquera, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Martín Zubimendi, Declan Rice, Eberechi Eze, Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard, Mikel Merino.

Tottenham Hotspur: Guglielmo Vicario, Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Djed Spence, João Palhinha, Rodrigo Bentancur, Xavi Simons, Brennan Johnson, Wilson Odobert, Richarlison.