If Arsenal looked vulnerable in the north London derby, Tottenham didn’t exactly look watertight either. And that’s not like them.
Defensively, they have been very good over the past few years. To his great credit, Mauricio Pochettino has added steely resolve to a club traditionally accused of lacking that quality.
And now he’s got to find a way of rediscovering that resilience for Spurs to enjoy another good campaign.
That’s not easy when the future of your best defender, Toby Alderweireld, remains in so much doubt, when your left-back, Danny Rose, would have liked to move this summer and when Jan Vertonghen’s contract situation has yet to be sorted.
Add in the uncertainty at right-back following Kieran Trippier’s departure and it amounts to quite a lot of work for Pochettino.
Recreating the spirited defiance within that rearguard might take all his skills. Whether he’ll need all that in place tomorrow is another matter, for Crystal Palace don’t look like a team full of goals this season.
Admittedly, they did brilliantly to snatch a win at Old Trafford three weeks back before fortuitously beating Aston Villa at home.
Even so, an over-reliance on Wilfried Zaha, their want-away star, leaves Roy Hodgson with a problem difficult to solve.
Like Pochettino, he didn’t get the kind of business done he wanted this summer. Failure to bring in a top striker has left the manager hamstrung.
