It’s Derby day in the premier league as Arsenal takes on Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirate stadium in the north London derby, the two teams have had a mixed start to their season both losing last weekend respectively.
Arsenal did major business in the summer bringing in Nicholas Pepe from Lille in the french ligue 1 for a club record £72m, Dani Ceballos on a season long loan from Real Madrid, David Luiz and Kieran Tierney from Chelsea and Celtic respectively, Pepe and Ceballos have already made instant impact, with the Spaniard winning the man of the match award in his first start for the club against Burnley
Spurs also broke their transfer record signing Tanguy Ndombele from Lyon for £65m, the Frenchman has got down to business already scoring in his home debut and recording two assists to his name after three games.
Usually, when the derby comes around, form normally goes out of the window, its usually about bragging rights, pride, history and tradition. It is the bragging rights for the fans, the players know what is at stake (the new players are quickly inducted on what a derby match means), managers understand that the match is more than the three points at stake, like Unai Emery found out in the 4-2 win in December 2018 – Emery’s best match since taking over as Arsenal Manager.
Both teams have met 198 times, with Arsenal winning 82, drawing 52 and Spurs winning 64 of the duals. Emery will be looking to unleash his deadly front trio of Aubameyang, Lacazette and Pepe and will be hoping they are too hot handle for the shaky Tottenham’s defence who haven’t kept a clean sheet this season.
One thing you are sure of is that the derby has an endless capacity to surprise. It will be entertaining, suspense-filled and there will be goals.
