This Saturday Arsenal make the short trip to White Hart Lane to play the North London Derby. This is the second time the sides have met this season, with the first fixture finishing 1-1.

That day the game followed the frustrating all too familiar narrative of Arsenal having a lot of possession without creating much with it. It took a late Oxlade-Chamberlain goal to rescue a point after an awful Flamini mistake had given Spurs hope of snatching an undeserved win through Nacer Chadli.

First half injuries that day also proved to be costly, with both Ramsey and Arteta going off injured in the first half, perhaps having an input in a disjointed display in a game Arsenal really should have won, with the side struggling for form in the early part of the season.

Injury News

The main injury news ahead of the game is that Arsenal’s undoubted player of the season Alexis Sanchez has been ruled out with a continued hamstring injury. He could however return to the side for the midweek game against Leicester City.

In better news Danny Welbeck is back in the squad while Oxlade-Chamberlain is back to light training but unlikely to make the matchday squad.

Of course, Arteta, Debuchy and Wilshere remain out with more long-term injuries.

Team Shape

Ospina will undoubtedly continue in goal with the team likely to be similar if not the same as the one that beat Villa 5-0 last week.

Bellerin will start at the right of the defense. It will be interesting to see how the young Spaniard deals with the threat of Christian Eriksen with Spurs hoping to exploit his still inexperience with one of their most threatening players.

Mertesacker and Koscielny will begin in the middle. Their partnership has been looking some way to being back to its best in recent weeks and will need to be to deal with the in form Harry Kane.

Monreal has been in great form since his return to his more natural position at left-back, and should continue at White Hart Lane. Its noticeable how much more tenacious he is the challenge these days, a possible welcome consequence of his time as an emergency centre-back.

Francis Coquelin is pretty undroppable at the moment and will continue to anchor the midfield. His signing of a new contract this week may have been overlooked by some people, but its great to see to have him tied down to a three year deal after his form in the side in recent weeks.

Ramsey will partner him at the base of the midfield with his fantastic engine a really valuable asset in these derby games. Although it was probably too much to ask to think he would be able to replicate his unbelievable form this season, he does seem to be putting in much better performances in last few weeks after shaking off his poor start to the season.

The Arsenal player of the month for January was not much of a competition despite honorable mentions for Coquelin as Sanchez, owing to Cazorla possibly playing his best football for the Gooners since his arrival at the Emirates. He will start in the attacking midfield position.

On the wings Ozil will probably start from the left coming inside with Theo Walcott providing the genuine width on the other side. The manager could however feel that Walcott’s tendency to lose possession or forget about his defensive duties make him too much of a risk for this away game, and he may make way for Tomas Rosicky.

Up top, Giroud will start and be charged with holding up possession and bringing Arsenal’s creative quartet opportunity to get on the ball in dangerous positions.

The Opposition

Earlier in the season Pochettino set his side up at the Emirates with a clear mandate to try and stifle Arsenal and hit them on the break. With his side at home and in much better form than earlier in the season, they are likely to play a much more expansive game.

Tottenham have won six of their last eight premier league games, and looked impressive in their 3-0 win against West Brom last week.

Christian Eriksen is undoubtedly their main threat coming in from the left and Lamela cutting inside onto his left foot from the left hand side.

Harry Kane is certain to lead the attack. After a string of good performances against lesser opposition in the Europa League early in the season he hasn’t looked back, already having an impressive twenty goals to his name.

Match Facts

Arsenal’s 1-0 win at White Hart Lane last season was their first win in six games at the ground, having drawn two and lost three of the previous games.

Tottenham have managed to keep just one clean sheet in their last 32 League games against Arsenal

Tottenham and Arsenal is the most drawn game in the history of the Premier League, with 18 of the games finishing in a stalemate

Both of Arsenal’s goalkeepers to start league games have three clean sheets.

Likely Line Ups

Arsenal: Ospina, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Ramsey, Cazorla, Ozil, Walcott, Giroud.

Spurs: Lloris, Walker, Fazio, Vertonghen, Rose, Bentaleb, Mason, Lamela, Dembele, Eriksen, Kane

Referee: Martin Atkinson

Prediction

One thing that seems to be certain in these ties is that there will be goals. Saturdays game looks likely to follow suit. Both sides have a lot of exciting attacking talent but poor defensive records. With the onus on Spurs to come out and attack at home, there should be space for Arsenal to exploit the gaps in their midfield on the break. Arsenal should have enough defensive strength to at least come away with a point, although a win would be massive for their season coming two weeks after the win at the Etihad.

Score: 3-2 to Arsenal