Three Key Battles as Arsenal Host Tottenham for the North London Derby

Three Key Battles as Arsenal Host Tottenham for the North London Derby

Arsenal host arch-rivals Tottenham in the Premier League on Sunday, here is where the game could be won or lost.

It’s one of modern football’s best derbies. Arsenal and Tottenham hate each other, and over recent years, they’ve produced some magic moments in hotly contested games that can define each other’s seasons.

Arsenal will be head into this one as heavy favourites considering they sit at the top of the Premier League with 26 points from their 11 games, although Spurs’ impressive away form could throw a spanner in the works.0

Here are three key battles we believe will decide the first North London derby of 2025-26.

With Viktor Gyokeres a major doubt and Kai Havertz not any closer to returning having picked up an injury in training after Arsenal’s 1-0 opening day win over Man United, it’s looking like Mikel Arteta will be playing Mikel Merino as his striker.

Last season the 29-year-old filled in up top to relative success, and he’s carried that into this season when called upon, scoring a brace against Slavia Prague and bagging an assist in the 2-2 draw with Sunderland.0

Tottenham’s centre-backs are a different beast, however. Both Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven would arguably get in every other side in the Premier League, excluding Arsenal, who have the best defence the English top flight has seen in years.

Van de Ven has been the better of the two so far this season. Making 13 tackles, winning 34 duels, and using his incredible pace to make 41 recoveries. He’s also a huge goal threat having already bagged three in the league, two more than Gabriel.

Merino’s natural instinct to drop a little deeper to receive the ball should play into Van de Ven’s hands. The Dutchman is happy to move into midfield, knowing he’s quick enough to recover if he needs to.

Games like this are often won in midfield, and both sides have great options in the centre of the park. They don’t get any better than Declan Rice at the moment, however, so Joao Palhinha will certainly have his hands full.

The Portuguese ace has been a revelation since joining from Bayern Munich on loan this summer, leading the way for tackles with 49, winning 81 duels, and 16 aerial duels, along with two Premier League goals and an assist.

Partnered with Rodrigo Bentancur, it’s a very conservative midfield duo from Thomas Frank, and as a result Tottenham don’t progress the ball up the field fast enough, proven by the fact they’ve only created 20 big chances and have an xG of 11.0, with just Sunderland, Aston Villa, and Burnley below them in that regard.

Palhinha’s primary job for this one won’t be to create though, it will be to stop Rice. The England international is at the heart of everything good happening at Arsenal at the moment, it’s hard to imagine where they’d be without him.

Rice has completed 591 passes with the success rate of 90.8%. He’s also completed 26 long balls, created 18 chances, and had 16 successful crosses. It’s not just his numbers on the ball that impress, however.

Defensively Rice has won 18 tackles, won 39 duels, and made 46 recoveries. Essentially, he’s the most complete midfielder in the Premier League at the moment, and if Tottenham can stop him, they’ll probably stop Arsenal.

Arsenal’s star boy hasn’t quite hit the heights he has done over the past couple of seasons, but three goals in their last five games across all competitions would imply he’s not far off getting back to the player we all know he can be.

He’ll most likely be up against England teammate Djed Spence, who’s emergence as a first team regular for Tottenham is probably one of the best things to have happened at the club in recent years.

Spence struggled in their games against Chelsea and Man United, but they were both at home, and Spurs are a different club when they play in front of their own fans compared to when they travel. It’s really odd, we won’t get into it here.

Like Palhinha, Spence won’t have many harder matchups than Saka. The winger remains Arsenal’s best attacking threat with 17 chances created, 17 successful dribbles, 12 successful crosses, and, of course, three Premier League goals.

The Spurs man will doubtless want to add another big name to the ‘Djed Spence Penitentiary’ though.