5 reasons why Arsenal will beat Tottenham Hotspur
Arsenal will renew hostilities with their North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur as the two sides clash at the Emirates on Saturday.
Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur were utterly dominant in their most recent Premier League outings. While the Gunners dispatched Brentford 3-0, Spurs handed a 6-2 humbling to Leicester City courtesy of a brilliant Son Heung-Min hat-trick.
Mikel Arteta's side are one point clear of Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur at the top of the table. The winner of this match will go to the top of the table at least until Manchester City's 90 minute bout with Manchester United draws to a close on Sunday.
Both Arteta and Conte have reasons to be optimistic about heading into the first North London derby of the season. However, we believe that Arsenal are going to prevail this time around and send Spurs back home with their tails tucked between their legs.
Without further ado, let's take a look at five reasons why Arsenal will beat Tottenham Hotspur.
#5 Arsenal have a more deep and dynamic squad
Arsenal produced a dominant performance against Brentford in their latest outing despite the absence of Martin Odegaard, their creator-in-chief, who missed out after suffering a knock in training.
Odegaard's deputy Fabio Vieira was one of the best players on the pitch and scored the best goal of the game as Arsenal won the game 3-0. The Gunners have multiple quality options in various positions in midfield as well as defense.
Ther attackers are in good form and it definitely looks like Arteta's side will be able to manage the game better than their rivals.
#4 Injury boosts for Arsenal
Thomas Partey is one of Arsenal's most influential players right now. The Gunners are a much better side when the Ghana international is playing. He left national team duty early this international break after suffering a knee injury. However, Ghana coach Otto Addo revealed that it was more of a precautionary measure.
Thomas Partey has played in 28 of Arsenal's last 45 league matches. They have emerged victorious in 71.4% of the games he has played in. Their win percentage without Partey in the team is just 47. Suffice to say, Partey being fit is a huge boost for Arsenal and he is reportedly ready to start the game.
Odegaard, who missed out against Brentford, featured for Norway in the international break and is fit to start. The Gunners are also optimistic about Kieran Tierney and Oleksandr Zinchenko being ready in time for the derby.
🗣️ Ghana NT manager Otto Addo on Thomas Partey: “Hopefully Thomas will be healthy soon. We didn't want to take that risk in a friendly game to play him against Brazil but surely playing a player like him against a squad like Brazil would have been helpful.” (via @ghanafaofficial) https://t.co/Mv4X4OY7zd
#3 Arsenal have shown a lot more character this season
The one thing that Arsenal have lacked in recent seasons is the ability to recover well from setbacks. They've lacked the grit to truly establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with in Europe or the Premier League.
However, there has been an improvement on that aspect in the opening stages of the new campaign. The Gunners have dealt with in-game setbacks well this term. In games against Aston Villa and FC Zurich, the Gunners relinquished 1-0 leads and had to come back from 1-0 down to secure a win over Fulham.
They also got dominated in spells during these matches, but they didn't let those phases define those results. Arsenal managed to dig deep and score the decisive goals in each of those games. This Arsenal side does not back down like they used to.
#2 Tottenham Hotspur haven't been all that convincing
Tottenham Hotspur are sitting third in the Premier League table with 17 points. Except in their 6-2 drubbing of a hapless Leicester City side, Spurs haven't exactly seemed like a dominant unit so far this season.
Conte's side picked up narrow wins against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Nottingham Forest and Fulham. They were held to a draw by Chelsea and West Ham United and conceded a 2-0 loss to Sporting CP in their latest Champions League outing.
Even though the points table would suggest that there is little to separate the two North London rivals, Arsenal seem to be way more settled than Spurs for now.
#1 Arsenal's home advantage
Arsenal have won their last two Premier League home games against Tottenham Hotspur. It's also worth noting that the Gunners have won all of their last six home games in the league.
The Gunners have lost just once in their last 29 Premier League home matches against the Lilywhites. Spurs haven't beaten the Gunners in their last 11 trips to the Emirates. Their last away win against Arsenal came way back in 2010.
Arsenal have fared well against Spurs at home and have been quite stoic at the Emirates in recent times. It is going to take a massive effort from Spurs to upset their rhythm right now.
@CharIieFairbank sets the scene ahead of Saturday's first North London Derby of the season 
🤯 Tottenham haven't beaten Arsenal in the Premier League at the Emirates since 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟬
📝 @CharIieFairbank sets the scene ahead of Saturday's first North London Derby of the season ⤵️
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