Tottenham vs Arsenal: Statistical Preview, Form Guide, Injury News + Head-To-Head

The 44th North London in Premier League history takes place at White Hart Lane on Sunday as Tottenham host Arsenal after both sides played in European competition midweek.

Tottenham were disappointingly beaten 3-1 at home by Benfica in the first leg of their Europa League round of 16 tie on Thursday, giving the team only two days rest before hosting their rivals.

Tim Sherwood’s side have conceded 7 goals over the past week which included a 4-0 thrashing at Chelsea. The inexperienced manager won’t have boosted morale at the club with a couple of negative comments about his team in his press conferences this week.

Arsenal earned a respectable 1-1 at Bayern Munich on Tuesday. Despite being eliminated from the Champions League, the Gunners were only the second team to avoid defeat and second team to concede as few as 1 goal in Bayern’s 17 matches at the Allianz Arena this season.

Arsène Wenger has a number of injuries to deal with in midfield, notably Mesut Özil picking up an injury midweek and Aaron Ramsey not returning as hoped. This will be the French manager’s 999th game in charge of Arsenal.

Form

Tottenham Hotspur LWLWW

Tottenham were thumped 4-0 at Chelsea last weekend, but they had held the leaders until half-time and were harshly reduced to 10 men and conceding a penalty that led to 2-0. Demba Ba added two very late goals following defensive mistakes.

Tottenham’s defence was at fault for the goals against Benfica too – mainly set pieces; the first allowing big centre-back Luisão to stroll unmarked from a corner to head the visitors in front. The Brazilian ended the game with two goals.

Tim Sherwood has won 4 of his last 5 at White Hart Lane with the exception a 5-1 thrashing at home by Manchester City.

Tottenham have taken 1 point from their previous 6 games against current top four sides this season, scoring just 2 goals and conceding a whopping 22 goals.

Arsenal LWDLW

Arsenal booked their place in the FA Cup semi-final with a 4-1 win at home to Everton last weekend and became odds-on favourites following Manchester City’s exit at the hands of Wigan Athletic.

Surprisingly beat 1-0 at Stoke City last time out in the Premier League, Arsenal have only won 1 of their last 4 Premier League games whilst busy with Champions League and FA Cup ties.

The Gunners are winless in their last three away games in the Premier League – drawing 2-2 at Southampton, and losing 5-1 at Liverpool before their defeat at Stoke two weeks ago.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been in fine form of late and is expected to play on the right wing in this match. He has only completed 90 minutes twice in the Premier League this season. Özil’s injury could see Santi Cazorla play in the middle and Lukas Podolski on the left wing.

Head-to-head

Arsenal were 1-0 winners in the Premier League back on 1 September thanks to Olivier Giroud’s goal midway through the first half.

The Gunners followed that up with a 2-0 win against their rivals in the FA Cup back in January and have actually won 4 of the last 5 in all competitions. All of those games played at the Emirates Stadium.

Tottenham were 2-1 winners in this fixture last season under André Villas-Boas. Spurs have actually only lost 1 of their last 7 against Arsenal at White Hart Lane in all competitions.

Premier League stats

Absentees

Tottenham Hotspur
Étienne Capoue (injured)
Vlad Chiricheș (injured)
Michael Dawson (injured)
Erik Lamela (injured)
Emmanuel Adebayor (doubtful)
Kyle Walker (doubtful)
Mousa Dembele (doubtful)

Arsenal
Abou Diaby (injured)
Mesut Özil (injured)
Aaron Ramsey (injured)
Kieran Gibbs (doubtful)
Theo Walcott (injured)
Jack Wilshere (injured)

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