The biggest game of the Weekend in the Premier League is the North London derby between Tottenham and Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.
Arsenal is expected to challenge Manchester City and Liverpool for the Premier League title after coming close in the last two seasons. The Gunners started the season on a good note, winning their first two games against Aston Villa and Wolves, but saw their 100% record smashed at home after a 1-1 draw with Brighton.
Tottenham has four points after three games in the Premier League’s opening matches:
- Drawing against newly promoted side Leicester City
- Winning against Everton
- Losing away to Newcastle United
Both teams hope to return to winning ways when they meet in the London derby. Arsenal will go into the fixture without some key players: Martin Odegaard and Riccardo Calafiori picked injuries during the international break, and Declan Rice is suspended for the game after he received a red card in their 1-1 draw against Brighton.
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Despite Arsenal missing some key players, Martin Keown predicts the Gunners to win the game against Tottenham.
What is Martin Keown’s Prediction for the North London Derby?
The former footballer, now pundit, said on talkSPORT: “I like what Spurs are doing; I like the way they play, the unity in the stadium, the togetherness.
“It’s a difficult situation. I think maybe now they will be concentrating more on themselves. The last time Arsenal went there it was more about stopping Arsenal from becoming champions.
“Now maybe the new manager is setting a new culture and they have got their own trophies they want to win. It’s been a long time. We have to respect Spurs.
“It’s difficult. You want to go there with your best players, but they’re not there. Calafiori is another one who has picked up an injury, [Mikel] Merino, the new signing, the one who would have come in for Rice, it’s not been a lucky start for Arsenal.
“What they have to do now is make their own luck and go into that cauldron and come out with some points.
“There’s not too much between the two teams while there has been this period without a trophy.”
Martin Keown added that the North London Derby is an important opportunity for Dominic Solanke to kickstart his Tottenham career following his big-money move in the summer.
He added: “It’s been 21 years now that Arsenal haven’t won the Premier League. God knows how long it has been since Spurs won a trophy worth picking up, so they’re in a similar boat. Arsenal have won copious amounts of FA Cups.
“Son [Heung-min] is a player that might be the difference, [Dejan] Kulusevski, they’re looking at [Dominic] Solanke now coming in.
“He’s been out, maybe he’s had a good period for him and this is the springboard for the start of his career at Spurs, proper.”
When asked if it would be a shock if Spurs beat Arsenal, Martin Keown replied, “I think it probably would, yeah.
“I think it would be a huge blow, that’s for certain, but I don’t see that happening.
“I think Arsenal are still good enough, when you look at how many goals they’ve conceded in recent times, the number of clean sheets away from home.
“Their away record: that’s when you start to look at Arsenal and think they’ve got that pedigree of champions because their away record is quite phenomenal.”
Asked for his final prediction, He responded: “I’m always going to go with Arsenal.
“‘But if you earn anything at Spurs now, when you go away from home, they won’t lose too many games and you earn everything you get now to play at Spurs.”
You can also share your prediction in the comment section.
