Earlier on in the summer, Arsenal fans would have been relishing the North London Derby. While the Gunners were on the up having qualified for the Champions League for the first time in six years, their fierce local rivals were in a time of crisis having finally lost Harry Kane and failed to qualify for European competition entirely.
The assumption was that this could be a chance for Arsenal to inflict even further pain on Spurs after doing the double over them last season. However, it seems that things will not be so simple.
Ange Postecoglou has got off to a flyer at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, winning four of his opening five Premier League matches including an impressive victory over Manchester United. New signing James Maddison has looked dangerous, while Son Heung-min appears to be back to his best after a disappointing season last time out.
As a result, the North London Derby is far from the forgone conclusion that many thought it might be. It’s crucial therefore that Mikel Arteta gets the big decisions right in terms of his team selection. Here football.london takes a look at some of the toughest choices that he faces.
Ramsdale vs Raya
There has been plenty of focus on the goalkeeping position at Arsenal over the past few days. When David Raya signed for the Gunners many thought it was inevitable that he would become the club’s number one. Few thought it would be this soon though.
The Spaniard has started both of Arsenal’s last two games in the Premier League and the Champions League. Many had though Arteta would look to rotate his keepers between the competitions, but after choosing Raya in both, many feel that Raya is now officially No.1.
Arteta though has insisted that he will continue to pick his stopper on a game-to-game basis. “It’s a belief that I had in the team I wanted to play against the expected opponent,” he told football.london after the 4-0 win over PSV. “Not only that, I made the other changes for the same reason.”
With that in mind it seems Ramsdale is still in contention to start the North London Derby. Managing this potentially turbulent situation correctly will be crucial to ensuring that Arsenal come away with the result that they’ll be hoping for.
Get the midfield right
One of the most controversial additions to the Arsenal team so far this season has been Kai Havertz. The German hasn’t hit the ground running as he would have hoped and was subject to some discerning groans as Arsenal laboured to 2-2 draw with Fulham.
To make matters worse for him Fabio Vieira came in for the 1-0 win over Everton at Goodison Park and was superb. The Portuguese midfielder was dropped on Wednesday night for the visit of PSV in the Champions League, but has a solid case to return against Tottenham at the weekend.
Either way it’s quite an attacking selection from Arteta, especially with Maddison looking particularly impressive this season so far. Picking a midfield that can nullify his strengths while enabling Arsenal to make the most from their attacking capabilities will be crucial.
Pick the correct centre forward
Eddie Nketiah has done a fine job leading the line at the start of this season for the most part. With Gabriel Jesus out after having minor knee surgery, Nketiah scored two goals in four starts and was impressive in pretty much every performance.
Now though, Jesus is back. The Brazilian was superb against PSV in midweek and will be pretty hopeful of continuing that form against Tottenham. It will be ultimately up to Arteta to decide who gets the nod, though.
