Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur will battle it out at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, September 27 and expect it to be nothing but outright fierce. Arsenal will certainly have the advantage of home grounds, but given the sheer intensity of rivalry in this North London derby, both groups will certainly bring their A games when they meet Saturday evening. In the 44 meetings of the Gunners and the Lilywhites till date, the two have scored a whopping 126 goals. This makes their derby Premier League’s highest goal-scoring football fixture in the history of English football.
Stats-wise, winning odds are in favor of the Gunners, who have also largely dominated all Premier League meetings with Spurs since the beginning. They beat Spurs 18 times and drew with them four other times. In fact, the last two North London derby matches saw Arsenal beat Spurs 1-0 each time.
Plus, they are the three-time winners of the Premier League. Spurs have yet to register any victory in the larger context of the Premier League championship. Arsenal’s table ranks have also been higher than their rivals in 19 out of 21 seasons in total. On home grounds, the Gunners have lost only once against the Spurs in the last 21 games.
However the Lilywhites are not to be taken lightly. They opened the season with two impressive wins and the Europa League group entry, which made qualification look easy. Their strong start dissipated quickly, however, with losses against the Baggies and the Reds. The Lilywhites are now desperate for a win and archenemy Gunners can be the perfect opponents. Especially when many of them (including Yaya Sanogo, Theo Walcott, Oliver Giroud, Mathieu Debuchy and Serge Gnabry) are nursing injuries at the moment.
It has also been a rather ordinary season for them as Arsenal won two and drew three of their last five League games. However, this has not changed the fact that they are one of the only two teams with unbeaten starts in the season thus far. And they’ll play to maintain that unbeaten streak. This brings us to another strong possibility – a draw. A draw is, in fact, always a safe bet to play when the North London arch rivals battle it out in the League. Of the 175 meetings in total, the derby has drawn 47 times.
Expect Arsenal to concede at least two goals, which has also been their average thus far this season. In the last two matches where they played home, exactly two goals were scored. Count on Alexis Sanchez to net the most number of goals. Spurs have also scored in the two games they played away but the subsequent losses show they’re not quite ready to bring Arsenal down. Their love of fast play possession is remarkable, but it doesn’t translate into goals as much as the Lilywhites would have liked. Their attack fails to impress, as well. We couldn’t say the same about their defense and midfield, though. Forward Emmanuel Adebayor will be the man to place wagers on if you absolutely must bet on the Lilywhites.