Arsenal vs Tottenham Preview, Team News, Likely Line-Ups & Predicted Score

Arsenal welcome rivals Tottenham to the Emirates on Sunday afternoon for the first north London derby of the new season.

The mood in the Gunners camp has been lifted by three wins on the bounce after a nightmare start against Aston Villa, but the players and fans are still waiting for boss Arsene Wenger to bring in any significant new additions to the club this summer.

The Reds completed the free transfer signing of Mathieu Flamini on Thursday and he, along with another free transfer Yaya Sanogo, are the only new signings to date. Wenger felt the brunt of the criticism following a 3-1 defeat to Villa on the opening day and frustrations could-well boil over if Spurs go away with all three points on Sunday.

Andre Villas-Boas arrives with his new-look squad after bringing in seven new signings so far this summer, breaking their transfer record on three separate occasions.

Spurs head into the game off the back of four successive victories – all without conceding a goal – but their two wins in the Premier League have been 1-0 with both winners coming from the penalty spot.

Arsenal ran out 5-2 victors in this fixture last season and it’s always a game that promises goals and drama, so we should be in for another enthralling match-up this time around.

Team News

Arsenal welcome back defender Laurent Koscielny after he recovered from a nasty cut above his eye picked up in the first leg of their Champions League play-off against Fenerbache. The Frenchman was suspended against Fulham last weekend and was on the bench in midweek, but is expected to be recalled to the starting eleven on Sunday.

New signing Mathieu Flamini is likely to go straight on to the bench with Wenger’s squad stretched by injury. Lukas Podolski has been ruled out for up to 10 weeks with a hamstring injury and he joins Thomas Vermaelen, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Abou Diaby and Mikel Arteta on the sidelines.

Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere are fit to start after recovering from minor knocks picked up in midweek. Youngsters Serge Gnabry, Yaya Sanogo and Ryo Miyaichi are likely to be among the subs as Wenger has little options left.

Spurs are expected to hand several new signings their north London derby debuts, with the likes of Nacer Chadli, Paulinho, Roberto Soldado and Etienne Capoue all likely to start.

Aaron Lennon could return to the bench after recovering from a foot injury, but Emmanuel Adebayor and Benoit Assou-Ekotto are not expected to feature as talks continue over their future at the club.

Jermain Defoe and Lewis Holtby are pushing for starts after impressing in midweek, while new signings Erik Lamela, Vlad Chiriches and Christian Eriksen are not expected to feature after only joining the club on Friday afternoon.

Likely Line-Ups

Predicted Score

Arsenal 2-1 Tottenham: Despite Arsenal’s troubles in the transfer market, their first eleven is still strong and may well prove too good for a new-look Spurs team that are yet to gel. If you enjoy online sports betting, you can currently get odds of 7/1 on the Gunners winning 2-1 and if you want to spice things up even further, backing Olivier Giroud to open the scoring will further increase the odds to a very tempting 20/1.

What would be your starting eleven and what’s your score prediction? Share your views below.