Arsenal seek to close the gap on their old enemy.
There’s nothing like a good ol’ North London Derby. Arsenal and Spurs – fighting for the top four as they’re condemned to for the rest of eternity – have four points between them, and oh how Unai Emery would love to cut the gap to just one.
Arsenal’s predictable demolition of Bournemouth on Wednesday was overshadowed by Spurs’ defeat at Stamford Bridge, where a blunder-infused display worsened their already awful record in SW6.
Though the hosts have now lost twice in-a-row, I’m still backing them to beat Arsenal on Saturday.
Spurs are fallible at Wembley, as they’ve shown a number of times already this season, but with back-to-back home wins against their neighbours, Mauricio Pochettino will know his side are more than capable of getting the job done.
The main reason why I’m expecting Spurs to win is Arsenal’s dreadful away form. One win in seven on the road is simply not good enough – especially when that one win came by the skin of their teeth against Huddersfield.
It’ll be a fascinating one, but my money is on Spurs to bounce back.
Arsenal’s away trips have been pretty chaotic this season, which is why my next tip is for both teams to score and over 2.5 goals to fly in.
85% of the Gunners’ away games have seen over 2.5 goals scored, while their BTTS rate is a monstrous 92%; there’s never any shortage of excitement.
Spurs’ over-2.5-rate is still a fairly solid 62% at Wembley, and while some derbies can be cagey (and pretty dull), I can see a similarly entertaining affair to that cracking six-goal thriller we saw at The Emirates back in December.
He loves a goal against Arsenal, does Hazza Kane.
The England skipper has scored eight goals against the Gunners in nine appearances, and is so often the difference-maker in North London Derbies.
You get a fairly poor price for Kane to score on Saturday, so as something of a longshot, I’m backing him to score two goals or more.
Arsenal are yet to keep an away clean sheet, and look a bit of a shambles at the back whenever they venture away from the Emirates, so this isn’t out of the question.
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