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Tottenham vs Arsenal: Preview, team news, line-ups and prediction

By on April 26, 2024

Arsenal celebrations

Arsenal will be desperate to cement their place at the top of the Premier League table when we take on Tottenham at the New Tottenham Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

After beating Wolves 2-0 at Molineux Stadium last weekend, Arsenal produced a masterclass performance to thrash Chelsea 5-0 at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night. Leandro Trossard opened the scoring early on and with both sides missing chances, it was just 1-0 at half-time. However, Arsenal were outstanding after the break as Ben White and Kai Havertz both scored braces to secure our biggest win ever against Chelsea in the league.

That victory was a real statement and it moved Arsenal three points clear of Liverpool at the top of the table with Man City four point back in third with two games in hand. Liverpool had the chance to move level with Arsenal when they travelled to Goodison Park on Wednesday night. However, the Reds slumped to a 2-0 defeat to Everton to dent their title hopes.

With Arsenal three points ahead and boasting a +15 goal difference over Liverpool with just four games left, we’d effectively need to drop at least four points for them to finish above us. That’s not out of the question, but Liverpool now face an uphill battle to win the title in Jurgen Klopp’s last season.

It was Man City’s turn to respond when they took on Brighton at the Amex Stadium on Thursday night. Unfortunately, an injury-hit Brighton side were no match for the defending champions as City ran out 4-0 winners. They now sit just one point behind Arsenal with a game in hand and they also cut our goal difference advantage to just +8.

Vital game

City play away to Nottingham Forest shortly after the NLD derby on Sunday, so Arsenal have the opportunity to open up a four point gap and put the pressure on Pep Guardiola’s side by beating Tottenham.

This was always going to be a pivotal game in Arsenal’s run-in, but the stakes couldn’t be higher as defeat to Spurs coupled with a City win at Forest would be a devastating blow to our title hopes. Arsenal desperately need to get a positive result on Sunday. Some think a draw would be a decent result given that Man City also have to play Tottenham away in their penultimate game. However, it’s hard to see City slipping up twice in their last five games, so Arsenal really need a win this weekend to keep their title dreams alive.

A NLD is never an easy game, but this match promises to be electric. Tottenham will be desperate to end our title hopes but they also need a win to boost their chances of finishing in fourth place. They sit six points behind Aston Villa with two games in hand so Spurs need a win to close the gap.

Tottenham will also be well rested as their last game was two weeks ago – a 4-0 defeat away to Newcastle – and they’ve played just once in the last three weeks. In contrast, Arsenal have played five times during that same period, so there is no doubt Tottenham should be the fresher of the two teams.

How to watch

Unsurprisingly, the NLD has been chosen for live broadcast by the TV companies. The game will be shown on Sky Sports, kicking off at 2pm on Sunday 28th April.

The match will undoubtedly be a sell-out, but fans who want to attend the game in person can still get Spurs tickets through trusted online reseller Seatsnet.com. Arsenal away allocation is sold-out but it’s still worth checking to see if any last minute tickets become available.

Team news

Arsenal have virtually a fully fit squad to choose from. Takehiro Tomiyasu is back from a minor knock and completed 65 minutes against Chelsea so he’s available for selection.

The only absentee is Jurrien Timber. The Dutchman made his long awaited comeback from an ACL injury with the U23’s recently. Timber scored a stunner during the win and got some much needed minutes under his belt. The Tottenham game could come too soon but the full-back hopes to make his first team return before the end of the season.

As for Tottenham, they’ll be without Destiny Udogie as he’s been ruled out for the rest of the campaign with a thigh injury. Pedro Porro is expected to recover from a hamstring injury to start at right-back while Richarlison is also set to be passed fit following a knee injury.

However, Fraser Forster remains out with an ankle injury so he will miss the game on Sunday along with Ryan Sessegnon and Manor Solomon.

Line-ups

Mikel Arteta has options if he wants to freshen things up but he may want to stick with the same eleven that thrashed Chelsea in midweek. David Raya moved a step closer to securing the Golden Glove with another clean sheet on Tuesday and he’s certain to start in goal once again.

White, William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes will retain their places in defence but it will be interesting to see who Arteta picks at left-back. Jacub Kiwior and Oleksandr Zinchenko are pushing for recalls but Tomiyasu may be viewed as the best all-round option for this game.

Thomas Partey made his return to the starting eleven on Tuesday and he was excellent in the holding role. As long as he’s fit to start again, we could see the Ghanaian keep his place ahead of Jorginho. Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard will both start once again while Bukayo Saka will keep his place on the right flank.

Trossard appears to have played his way into the Arsenal eleven on the left wing so Gabriel Martinelli may have to settle for a place on the bench. Gabriel Jesus is also set to miss out with Havertz keeping his place up front after his brace on Tuesday.

Likely Arsenal XI: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tomiyasu, Partey, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Havertz, Trossard

Likely Tottenham XI: Vicario, Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Davies, Bissouma, Benancur, Maddison, Kulusevski, Werner, Son

Prediction

It’s never easy to predict a NLD, especially with so much at stake, as anything can happen. Tottenham should be fresh but the lack of playing time recently could work against them as they might not have enough match rhythm coming into such a big game.

Arsenal on the other hand should be flying high following our superb win over Chelsea. The players have responded well from the disappointing results against Aston Villa and Bayern Munich, and they should be in confident mood heading to the New Tottenham Stadium.

As always, this should be a closely fought game in a tense atmosphere, but I’m backing Arsenal to edge it. Tottenham 1-2 Arsenal