Jose Mourinho has revealed that Tanguy Ndombele was ruled out of the north London derby with a "little problem" with the French midfielder declaring himself not fit to play on Sunday morning.
Ndombele, who joined Spurs from Lyon ahead of last season, has become an important and influential figure in midfield and his absence will be a big blow for the Premier League title contenders.
Mourinho declared before kick-off that he was expecting the 23-year-old to be available for selection before he was deemed unfit at the eleventh hour, with Giovani Lo Celso taking his place in the starting XI.
“[He had] a little problem that he couldn’t recover from," the Portuguese boss told Sky Sports.
"We were expecting, we were positive, we were expecting until the last moment. At that moment, he decided he was not ready.”
Harry Kane and Toby Alderweireld were slight doubts going into Sunday's clash against Arsenal but were given the green light and both players were selected to start the match.
Kane missed Thursday's draw against LASK with a mystery issue, while Alderweireld returned to training on Friday having not featured since last month's victory against Manchester City.
Forward Carlos Vinicius was named on the bench while Erik Lamela remains unavailable with a foot injury.
Spurs are unbeaten in their last six Premier League matches at home against Arsenal in a run stretching back to 2014.
Mourinho's side have made an impressive start to the season, firmly establishing themselves as title contenders having not tasted defeat since the opening day of the campaign.
Meanwhile, Arsenal will be looking to avoid back-to-back Premier League losses at the hands of their bitter rivals, a situation that has not been a reality since November 2010.
The Gunners are struggling to make their mark on the league this season, having lost five of their opening ten matches in the competition, and go into Sunday's clash as second favourites to come out on top.
