North London Derby – A Preview

This the one of the most anticipated fixtures every season. The long standing rivalry between these two clubs is quite well known. The supporters of respective teams might hate each other for a variety of reasons but there is no denying the fact that in the recent past, the North London Derby has provided much excitement to football fans and by all means that is expected to continue this weekend as well when Spurs travel to The Etihad and face the Gunners.

A lot of interesting factors contribute to the build-up of this match. One for instance is the emergence of Tottenham as a major force in the Premier League and in Europe. The 3-1 thrashing of Real Madrid at Wembley is a sign of how far Tottenham have progressed. If it were any other day, about five years in the past, Arsenal would have considered this match as a walk in the park but not anymore. Tottenham have proved that they are no longer the underdogs but genuine title contenders and that is substantiated by the fact that currently Tottenham are sitting 3^rd in the table and Arsenal are down at 6^th.

Both teams will be wanting to win this match to close the gap. Tottenham will want to win to get closer to Manchester City and Arsenal will be wanting to climb up to Top 4.

Interestingly the other major factor that might contribute to the result of this match is the player’s mentality. In Tottenham we have players who are dedicated the team and are willing to go the extra mile to ensure that they win, Where as in Arsenal players like Sanchez and Ozil care less about the club and have all but decided to leave the Gunners. Also, players like Wilshere and Walcott who are the long serving members are not given the chance to prove themselves.

With the teams being in such contrasting conditions, it’s quite obvious that all the pressure is on Arsene Wenger who has already had 4 defeats in the opening 11 matches and one more defeat, that too against Tottenham will put Wenger’s position in serious jeopardy.

A win for Arsenal will still keep them below Spurs in the points table but closing the gap is just as important for Arsenal because of their history.

Wenger’s legacy is slipping while Pochettino is building one for his own and I believe that it’ll ultimately come down to which teams wants it more. Yet, if I had to take a wild guess, I think given the current form, Spurs will dominate the game and the result might be 1-3 in favor of Tottenham.

That's it for now folks. See you again.