While talk of a power shift in north London has favoured Tottenham in recent seasons, Sunday’s derby has a long-established status quo that Mauricio Pochettino has struggled to break.
Spurs emerged from the shadow of their bitter rivals to finish above them for the last three campaigns, creating a gap widened further by building on their retention of Champions League football to reach last year’s final.
Pochettino has not lost a Premier League home derby since his arrival in the summer of 2014 — and won away in the Carabao Cup last season — but is yet to taste top-flight victory at Emirates Stadium, which gives the Gunners an argument for winning the battle each season, even if they are currently losing the war.
Spurs have beaten Arsenal away just twice in the Premier League era, the first occasion coming at the end of the division’s inaugural season, when the Gunners rested a plethora of regulars ahead of an FA Cup Final against Sheffield Wednesday four days later.
Harry Redknapp’s side repeated the feat on a more level playing field in November 2010, coming from 2-0 down to secure a famous victory which left Arsene Wenger so incensed he threw a bottle of water into the ground and then the cap for good measure, an image so iconic Spurs would later use it in their pre-match montage on the big screens at White Hart Lane.
Yet, it is Spurs’s bottle, and specifically Pochettino’s, which is called into question when travelling the four miles across neighbouring boroughs Haringey and Islington.
No one doubts the remarkable job the Argentine has done with modest resources, essentially taking Arsenal’s place as top-four regulars — at least in the short term — but a victory on Sunday would silence concerns over his sometimes scrambled approach to this fixture.
The Key Derby Issues
Tottenham’s right-back crisis
With Juan Foyth and Kyle Walker-Peters out, Eric Dier or Moussa Sissoko could have to fill in. It will be an area Arsenal will look to exploit, particularly if Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang starts out left.
The David Luiz conundrum
The Brazilian impressed against Burnley, but at Liverpool last week he showed how prone he is to errors. He gave away a penalty with his shirt-pull on Mohamed Salah and will need to be at his best against Harry Kane.
Controlling midfield
Dani Ceballos showed against Burnley how he can dictate the tempo of a game. Harry Winks will look to do the same for Tottenham and whoever is able to take charge will have a big say in who wins.
It is the lot of a manager that any gamble is heralded as genius if it succeeds or madness if it fails, but when these two met last December, Pochettino dropped Toby Alderweireld — who had started every previous League game for more than two months — in favour of rookie Juan Foyth at centre-back.
Many Spurs fans were unhappy at that call then, while Pochettino’s demeanour this term hints at further reported problems over the happiness — or otherwise — of certain players.
Jan Vertonghen and Christian Eriksen continue to watch from the sidelines, with the latter hoping a move to Real Madrid or Barcelona materialises before the European transfer deadline passes on Monday.
Pochettino, who also needs Harry Kane to rediscover top form after an uncertain start, would surely start both without hesitation were there no off-field complications to consider.
Danny Rose’s absence at Pochettino’s behest led the fall-out from Spurs’s 2-0 defeat in 2017-18, after which Wenger was asked why he had been so reluctant to play Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette and Alexis Sanchez in a front three.
Unai Emery finds himself facing the same accusations now, with Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and £72million club-record signing Nicolas Pepe the triumvirate du jour.
If there is substance to the rumoured unrest within the Tottenham camp, the temptation to attack them in front of the home fans must be high.
“Be calm,” Emery said in response to the clamour for Lacazette, Aubemeyang and Pepe to be unleashed, but should he opt against doing so and fail to win the Spaniard will face questions over his own tactical acumen amplified further after Arsenal’s defeat at Liverpool.
Emery was criticised for failing to nullify Liverpool’s full-backs at Anfield, if anything giving Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson even more space with a narrow midfield diamond, while attempting to use Pepe and Aubameyang’s pace on the break if they could beat the press.
“We won with the diamond last year and we lost with it,” said Emery. “The consequence of the result on Saturday was not the diamond, but we are ready to play with different tactics. We are more rich tactically. We will decide the best system for us, thinking of our gameplan and to adapt for Tottenham.”
Pochettino’s plans are complicated by a hamstring injury to Kyle Walker-Peters, meaning Moussa Sissoko could deputise, given Serge Aurier is likely to leave the club before Monday’s European transfer deadline.
Of course, Pochettino may have another trick up his sleeve — and Emirates Stadium would be an apt venue to finally pull a rabbit out of the hat.
