Tottenham Hotspur will clash heads with their bitter rivals, Arsenal at Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon on the back of a disappointing 2-0 loss away at Chelsea in midweek. The Gunners, on the other hand, secured a dominant 5-1 win over Bournemouth in the past gameweek.
Both teams will try their best to get the three points as it could propel them to top 4 safety. Unai Emery could decide to opt for a 4-2-3-1 formation with Lacazette and Xhaka expected to make the starting XI.
4-2-3-1 Arsenal Predicted Lineup To Face Tottenham Hotspur
Defence
Bernd Leno will line up in between the sticks for the visitors despite failing to keep a clean sheet against Bournemouth in midweek. The central-back duo of Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Laurent Koscielny are expected to operate at the heart of the Gunners backline for this upcoming North London derby.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles is expected to start at right-back after being rested in midweek. Sead Kolasinac has proven to be an extremely productive option going forward so he will play on the left side of Emery’s defence.
Spurs could line up with both Harry Kane and Heung-min Son up top. Hence, it won’t be easy for the Gunners defenders to keep things tight at the back unless they perform at the best of their abilities.
Midfield
Emery might go with the midfield duo of Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira as they look to dominate possession and create some chances in the Tottenham half. Despite his error against the Cherries in midweek, Guendouzi has developed his game and put in some eye-catching displays for Arsenal in recent weeks, so he is expected to feature from the bench.
The dangerous trio of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan could get the nod to play ahead of them as part of the away side’s attack on Saturday afternoon. Mkhitaryan has scored in back to back games against Southampton and Bournemouth respectively so he will fancy his chances of finding the back of the net versus Spurs this weekend.
Emery might finally choose to start with Ozil versus a top 6 opponent as the German midfielder was exceptional in midweek. It would be a surprise if he didn’t feature from the start in this highly anticipated North London derby.
Attack
Alexandre Lacazette was rested in midweek which indicates that the Arsenal boss might decide to give him a start this weekend. The Frenchman came off the bench to register a goal against the Cherries. The Gunners centre-forward will now need to replicate that feat versus Spurs to ensure maximum points for his team on Saturday.
