Arsenal vs Tottenham preview: Team news, line-ups and prediction

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Arsenal will end their pre-season tour of Asia with a high-profile ‘friendly’ against arch rivals Tottenham Hotspur at the Kai Tak Sports Park in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

It’s been a solid pre-season so far for Arsenal. After beating Watford 2-0 in a behind closed doors friendly earlier this month, we flew out to Asia for our pre-season tour. We kicked things off with a decent 1-0 win over AC Milan – Bukayo Saka scoring the only goal of the game.

Last time out, Arsenal edged a five-goal thriller against Newcastle United. The Magpies opened the scoring early on through Anthony Elanga before Mikel Merino levelled things up with a fine finish.

An own goal two minutes later put Arsenal ahead but Newcastle equalised in the 57th minute through Jacob Murphy. However, Arsenal won it late on thanks to a Martin Odegaard penalty after the hugely impressive Max Dowman was fouled in the area following a lovely run.

Next up we face rivals Tottenham in Hong Kong. Spurs come into the game off the back of a poor draw with League One Luton Town so they’ll be keen to put in a much-impressed display against the Gunners.

After completing our pre-season tour of Asia, Arsenal will head back to North London to prepare for the visit of Villarreal to the Emirates Stadium next week. We then finish off pre-season by hosting Athletic Bilbao in the Emirates Cup on August 9th.

That will be Mikel Arteta’s last chance to get the players prepared for our tough Premier League opener away to Manchester United on August 17th.

How to watch

UK supporters can pay to watch the game on Arsenal.com with a pre-season pass.

Supporters based in Hong Kong can buy Arsenal tickets from resellers such as Seatsnet.com. Tottenham have a strong fan-base in Asia as well and they can search for the latest available tickets for the game.

Team news

Arsenal will be without Riccardo Calafiori once again as the Italian international is still nursing a minor knock that he picked up last week. Fans are beginning to get concerned that Calafiori will endure another frustrating campaign plagued by injuries as he just doesn’t seem to be able to stay fit for a prolonged period.

Hopefully Cala is able to recover from this latest knock and be fit for the new season as Arsenal have two other injury concerns in defence. Gabriel Magalhaes is yet to feature in pre-season as he’s still working his way back to full fitness having undergone hamstring surgery back in April. The Brazilian is training with the first team but Arsenal don’t want to rush him back too soon, so it remains to be seen whether he’ll play any part in Arsenal pre-season schedule.

Jurrien Timber is also still unavailable as he’s working his way back to full fitness from an ankle injury that hampered him during the final stages of last season. The Dutchman is expected to be fit for the start of the new campaign but he won’t play any part against Spurs on Wednesday.

Gabriel Jesus is back doing ball work on the training pitch after recovering from ACL surgery. However, after such a serious injury, the forward still needs more time to work on his fitness before he’ll be available for selection again.

Gyokeres has taken part in a couple of training sessions with his new team mates so he could be involved tomorrow – although a place on the bench is the best he’ll hope for at this stage. Cristhian Mosquera is pushing to make his debut after not featuring against Newcastle following his move from Valencia.

As for Spurs, they will be without several players for the game. Bryan Gil, Manor Solomon, Dejan Kulusevski, Radu Dragusin and Destiny Udogie are all missing due to injury concerns.

Summer signing Mahammed Kudus is expected to start after completing his £55m move from West Ham this summer while Son Heung-min should also feature despite rumours linking him with a move to the MLS.

Possible XI

Arteta will continue to rotate his starting eleven but David Raya should keep his place between the sticks with Kepa on the bench. With Calafiori ruled out, Jacub Kiwior is likely to come in to partner William Saliba in the middle of defence.

Myles Lewis-Skelly will continue at left-back with Oleksandr Zinchenko among the substitutes while Ben White should start at right-back with Timber still missing.

Martin Zubimendi impressed on his full debut in midfield so he could keep his place ahead of fellow summer signing Christian Norgaard. Declan Rice is likely to be recalled after being named on the bench against Newcastle while Martin Odegaard is also expected to come in with Ethan Nwaneri and Mikel Merino making way.

Arsenal’s big-money striker signing Viktor Gyokeres won’t be ready to start just yet so we should see Kai Havertz leading the line up front. Our Swedish No.14 will hopefully get some minutes in the second half.

Bukayo Saka is expected to start from the right wing but fans will be desperate to see wonderkid Max Dowman at some point. The 15-year-old has impressed in his cameo appearances in pre-season and he looks to have a huge future ahead of him.

Leandro Trossard started on the left flank against Newcastle but we could see Gabriel Martinelli recalled. Reiss Nelson will be another option from the bench despite reports linking him with a return to Fulham this summer.

Possible Arsenal XI: Raya, White, Saliba, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly, Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Havertz

Prediction

I thought Arsenal looked good against Newcastle and we deserved to win the game. You can’t take too much from pre-season matches but the squad looks to be in a solid place and the new signings will only help us go to the next level once they settle in.

I’m not a big fan of playing Premier League rivals in pre-season, especially a NLD against Spurs – I just think the added intensity is asking for trouble and the last thing we want is to pick up a serious injury before the season has even started. Therefore, my main hope is we come through the game unscathed and the players get some minutes under their belt.

In terms of predicting a result, Spurs will be a much better team under Thomas Frank this season so this will be a tough game. They’ll be well organised and have plenty of threat in attack. However, I still think Arsenal are a much stronger outfit and we should edge this game.

Arsenal 2-1 Spurs

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