Tottenham Hotspur meet Arsenal at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a huge North London derby.
Victory would see Tottenham climb to fourth if Newcastle lose elsewhere, whereas a win would see Arsenal extend their lead over second-placed Manchester City to eight points.
Team News
Dejan Kulusevski could be in contention for Tottenham as he nears a return from a muscle injury, which forced him to miss their last three matches.
Rodrigo Bentancur (groin), Yves Bissouma (knock) and Richarlison (hamstring) are set to return to the matchday squad, whilst Lucas Moura (tendon) remains absent.
Arsenal will have Bukayo Saka available for selection after he recovered from a knock suffered during their FA Cup win at Oxford United.
Reiss Nelson (thigh) and Gabriel Jesus (knee) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Tottenham welcome Arsenal to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday 15 January in a 4:30pm GMT kick-off live on Sky Sports in UK.
Stat Attack
- Tottenham have won three of their last six meetings against Arsenal (W3, L3).
- Arsenal are winless in their last eight league visits to Tottenham (D2, L6).
- Two of Spurs’ last three meetings against Arsenal have ended in 3-1 defeats, albeit both away from home.
- Three of Tottenham’s five goals in all competitions in 2023 so far have been scored by Harry Kane.
- Martin Ødegaard has scored three goals in Arsenal’s last two league games away from home (W2).
Prediction
Despite putting out a strong line-up against Portsmouth in the FA Cup last weekend, Antonio Conte will be slightly disappointed with how they scraped a win especially after another slow first-half performance which is now surely a hugely frustrating concern.
Arsenal meanwhile had issues of their own breaking down Oxford Utd’s resilient defence with a drab first-half effort, yet they were excellent once they found their top gears with plenty of brilliant passes and intensity in their end product.
I now expect Mikel Arteta’s Gunners to bring that quality into this match because Spurs are there for the taking if don’t hit the ground running quickly and Arsenal take advantage, otherwise I can see a tough battle where the second half will be key to the result.
Arsenal though haven’t exactly gone well at Spurs in recent seasons but following Man City’s defeat, this is a huge opportunity to extend their lead in the title race which they need to take – even if they only scrape a draw which could be crucial come end of season.
Prediction: Tottenham 1-1 Arsenal
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