The teams
The team news is in, and this is it:
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Trippier, Wanyama, Sissoko, Rose, Eriksen, Kane, Son. Subs: Lamela, Llorente, Gazzaniga, Aurier, Lucas Moura, Davies, Skipp.
Arsenal: Leno, Mustafi, Papastathopoulos, Koscielny, Monreal, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Mkhitaryan, Ramsey, Iwobi, Lacazette. Subs: Cech, Ozil, Torreira, Aubameyang, Maitland-Niles, Suarez, Kolasinac.
Referee: Anthony Taylor.
Hello world!
First things first: happy birthday Mauricio Pochettino! It might be best to squeeze this in now, before the day has a chance to go downhill. And while we’re here, happy birthday Toby Alderweireld!
Tottenham have lost their last two Premier League games, and Arsenal have won their last two Premier League games. But both of those Gunners wins came at home, while away they have been pretty wretched: they have won 18 points on their travels, fewer than Wolves and Watford as well as the rest of the top six, have not kept a clean sheet away from home all season, and have lost six and won one of their last away matches at Spurs.
If you compare Tottenham with Arsenal and the capacity to sign [players] you could say Tottenham cannot be at the same level as Arsenal,” Pochettino said this week. “Maybe if [chairman] Daniel [Levy] said to me, ‘Next season we need a title, we need to win the Champions League and we need to win the Premier League’, I would say, ‘Maybe you need to find another magic guy who can do this.’”
Another magic guy.
Anyway, here we are. Derby day. Magic guys. Birthdays. A team that hasn’t drawn a game since forever. History, Rivalry. Football.
Should be a good one.
