Don't Miss

Arsenal need to defy the odds and claim victory in North London Derby

By mac14 on December 5, 2020

Arsenal desperately need to come away with a positive result when we travel to Tottenham in the North London Derby on Sunday afternoon.

We maintained our 100 percent record in the Europa League with a comfortable 4-1 win over Rapid Vienna on Thursday night and have already wrapped-up qualification to the knockout stages as Group B winners.

However, while we’ve made light work of our European campaign so far, Arsenal have struggled domestically as we head to The New Tottenham Stadium on Sunday sitting 14h in the Premier League table. Last weekend’s home defeat to Wolves meant Arsenal have lost five of our opening 10 league games and are already five points adrift of the top four so the pressure is on Mikel Arteta to turn things around.

The bookmakers are already backing Arsenal to miss out on Champions League qualification once again and they have Tottenham as the even-money favourites to collect all three points in the derby tomorrow while Arsenal are priced at 29/10. If you do bet on the game, you can find the best bookmakers on bonuscodebets.co.uk and check out the latest offers.

Gone are the days when Arsenal would be considered favourites in this fixture, and it’s no wonder Tottenham are expected to come out victorious when you look at the league table. Spurs currently sit top of the Premier League on goal difference from Liverpool after collecting 21 points from their opening 10 games.

Tottenham are already eight points clear of Arsenal so it’s vital we defy the odds to win the NLD on Sunday otherwise, not only will we face finishing behind our rivals, but we’ll be in a real battle to get ourselves back in contention for a top four place.

Partey to return?

The big news in the run-up to the game is that Thomas Partey could make a surprise return to action. The midfielder has been on the sidelines since suffering a thigh injury last month but has returned to training and will be given a late fitness test to see if he’ll be in contention to face Spurs.

Partey’s return would be a welcome boost as he’s been sorely missed in recent weeks but I hope we don’t take any unnecessary risks and rush him back too soon as it would be a nightmare if he aggravated the injury.

Arteta is expected to recall a number of players with the likes of Bernd Leno, Gabriel, David Luiz, Hector Bellerin, Kieran Tierney, Granit Xhaka, Bukayo Saka and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang set to start after being rested in midweek.

Hopefully our fresh legs will make a difference tomorrow as Tottenham endured a trip to Austria on Thursday night while Harry Kane and Hugo Lloris are both fitness doubts. We haven’t beaten Spurs in our last six away games so fingers crossed we break that run on Sunday.