Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal

please log in to view this image

Sunday 6th December 4.30pm
Premier League
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium​

Progressing through a European group would generally be well received, but that was appalling, wasn't it?
Dropping form now could be disastrous, so a poor performance couldn't come at a worse time.
Our visitors have played well in the competition too, so let's hope that neither is a sign of things to come.
Arteta's in need of a boost, while we're hoping to maintain our position at the top of the table.
Can Mourinho return to winning ways or will Arsenal cause an upset?

This is Mikel Arteta's first full season as a manager, having replaced Unai Emery and Freddie Ljungberg last year.
It's still a couple of weeks until it's been a full year, but he already has a piece of silverware under his belt.
He'd have been given time, in my opinion, but the 8th place finish wasn't quite up to standard.
They were 11th when he took over, so he definitely improved them.
Not qualifying for Europe would've been seen as a fairly poor start though, had it happened.

This campaign has got off to a slightly worse start than they'd have been hoping for.
They're currently in 14th place and have lost three consecutive home games in the league.
Cup form has been an exception again, as they've won all of them, if you include penalty shoot-outs.
A relatively easy Europa League group has contrasted sharply with their League Cup draws.
They've knocked out Leicester and Liverpool already, but now face Man City.

This fixture was one of the last in the previous campaign, coming after the break for the coronavirus.
Both sides were desperate for the win, even more than normal, as it looked like Europe was on the line.
Conceding an early goal to a Lacazette strike was not what we needed, but a mistake allowed us to level.
Kolasinac's errant pass allowed Son to jink past David Luiz and chip Martinez to make it 1-1.
Both sides spurned chances to take the lead, until Alderweireld headed home from a corner late on to win it:

The visit to their place looked like it would be more straightforward, but we threw it away after leading.
Eriksen and Kane put us 2-0 up, scoring early and late in the first half.
Poor defending allowed them to pull one back before the break though, which lead to a nervous second.
Kane struck the post before Aubameyang pulled them level with about 20 minutes to go.
Dele Alli had a late penalty appeal turned down, but it was mystifyingly turned down:

Lamela will miss this one, while Lloris, Alderweireld, Kane, Reguilon and Vinicius face late tests.
Martinelli is out for the visitors, while Partey may be available and David Luiz should be fit.
Pepe is suspended, following his sending off against Leeds.

Lineups for each side's last league game:

Spurs: Lloris; Aurier, Rodon, Dier, Reguilon; Sissoko, Hojbjerg; Son, Ndombele, Bergwijn; Kane.
Subs: Hart, Sanchez, Davies, Lo Celso, Bale, Moura, Vinicius.
League form: DWWWWD.

Arsenal: Leno; Bellerin, Luiz, Gabriel, Tierney; Xhaka, Ceballos; Willian, Willock, Saka; Aubameyang.
Subs: Runarsson, Soarez, Holding, Elneny, Nelson, Lacazette, Nketiah.
League form: LLWLDL.

Ref: Martin Atkinson. VAR: Chris Kavanagh.

TV: Sky Sports.

How would you like to line up for this one and what would you change from the LASK game?
Would you stick with much of the same lineup, make a few changes or go for a wholesale switch?
Which system and tactics would you use and what are you expecting Arsenal to go with?

 

​

I miss Kolasinac. He was really funny.

 

And Gwen duzi , miss him making a tnuc of himself

 

I hope we go for them early...don’t give them too much respect, they are not City. If we do then we might suffer.

 

Is Kane a starter? Not sure if to keep him in my FT.

 

Over recent years, I've never been confident of NLDs even when we've been in form, so you can imagine how I'm feeling now that we're out of form.

The circumstances of your draw in midweek makes me think Mourinho will give your players a rocket up the backside to ensure they're not anywhere near as sloppy against us.

Unfortunately, though we are sailing through cup competitions, our league performances and results are a major worry.

This is the not the game we need IMO.

Need to pull a rabbit out the hat to get something from this.

Mourinho can talk about form being irrelevant all he wants, but the fact is, when you're playing against a team who can't create, score or defend particularly well, and are 14th in the league, you have to absolutely fancy your chances.

 

No no no, I have learnt we must never underestimate Arsenal. Like Chelsea, Arsenal mostly seem to find their rhythm against Spurs!

I simply cannot be optimistic, hopeful but not optimistic!

 

Yesterday, I had the misfortune to catch Alan Brazil, Ray Parlour and Trevor Sinclair naming a combined XI. Yes, I know...but I'd been listening to H&J the previous day and forgot that I'd left it tuned to that station. I'm getting old and forgetful.

How many Arsenal players made the back 5, I hear you asking...?

FOUR....yes, really....FOUR of the useless ****ers!

GK - Leno...No ****. Honestly, they preferred him to Lloris, who is in the form of his life, not Hart or Harry Kane;

RB - Bellerin...Mystifying, given that Aurier has been having a storming season and Bellerin's been having an extended furlough;

LB - Tierney...over Reguillon. I **** you not.

CB - Gabriel - He's by far your best defender...but he's been surrounded by utter ****, so that may be misleading. Just about understandable.

CB - Alderweireld...Yes, he got in ahead of Luiz or Mustafi or Holding...and Dier........Utterly mystifying!

Three other Arsenal players made it into the XI (so, 7 Arsenal players and only 4 Spurs).....yeah, I know...and they weren't fishing for callers!

Can you guess who the other 3 of your lot are?

 

Another "must win" game from the "season compass" viewpoint.
And as it is a NLD, as always victory is all and performance is moot.

 

Aubameyang, Partey and Ceballos?

 

Meatloaf.

 

Cmon the gooners!

 

Sucky has quite got the idea of rcl-ing, has he.

 

Among other things...

 

I don’t even want to know Isn’t Alan Brazil a Spurs fan as well? TalkSport always try to do the most outlandish things to provoke a reaction from people, I’m sure no-one with an ounce of common sense took notice of it.

Currently, I can’t make a case for any of our players getting into your team. I know I’ve said it several times before but it really is the poorest team we’ve had in my lifetime.

And whilst I don’t subscribe to the whole “next year things will get better” narrative amongst a subsection of Arsenal fans, you do get the feeling the Summer will be a defining one for the club. There’s around £700k per week expected to come off the wage bill in the Summer with players’ contracts expiring, which will give us a bit more wiggle room.

How we reallocate those resources will be critical. Our recruitment, for the most part, since the Summer of 2015 has been appalling. We need to land some gems and hope some of our youth players can make the step up we require. Otherwise we will be languishing in mid table for the foreseeable future.

Kinda says it all that I’m looking at next season already

 

I hate this game...

If we lose it is sickening...unless we were winning first in which case it's like waking up and finding out that you have Jamie Redknapps personality and Jamie Vardys face.

If we draw its ok...unless we were winning until the last few minutes or were 2 goals ahead in which case it is like stubbing your little toe with no shoes on.
Drawing if we we were 2 or more down or getting a very late equaliser is like finding 50 quid in the street 3 days before payday.

Winning is like finding out the person you've been crushing on really fancies you.

Winning after being behind is like finding out your other half ain't really in the mood for themself but really want to do you.

Really worried that at 6.30pm tomorrow I will be looking in the mirror and seeing Vardy staring back at me

 

He's an ex-Spurs player. Never stops slagging us off, though. Probably because he got dropped and sold in a very short space of time.

 

He's always dropping the names of 'Glen', 'Ossie', 'Max' and 'Chrissy'...but they must know that he's a 2 faced twat...surely?

 

Yeah, good points, well made and all that....

....but we're not buying it.

I doubt that you'll find many confident Spurs fans for this game...or many others, come to that!