Tottenham Hotspur visit North London rivals Arsenal on Sunday morning.
Even the most optimistic of Tottenham Hotspur fans will not be looking forward to Sunday’s visit to North London rivals Arsenal.
That is because not only have Tottenham failed to win any of their last six games in all competitions, but Toby Alderweireld, Harry Kane and perhaps Mousa Dembele are unlikely to be present at the Emirates Stadium this weekend.
Add in the fact that Arsenal have lost one of their 16 games this season, winning 12 of them, and there are plenty of reasons to be quite pessimistic from a Spurs perspective.
That said, there are also reasons to be cheerful for Mauricio Pochettino’s side, and here are three of them.
1 – Reinvigoration
There is nothing like a huge match to reinvigorate an out-of-form team and maybe the timing of this fixture isn’t as disastrous as it looks.
Sure, it would appear as if facing a bang-in-form team such as Arsenal in a derby is the last thing Spurs need right now but, by the same token, it might be the best medicine. Perhaps the Lilywhites need an occasion of this magnitude to give themselves a self-inflicted and much-needed kick up the you-know-what and dig themselves out of the hole they find themselves in.
2 – Form
There is a temptation to frisbee the form book out of the nearest window when trying to predict local derbies. This is because the games leading up to the big one can often have little to no bearing to what happens on the day.
Arsenal were comprehensively out-played by Spurs in the 1-1 draw at the Emirates last season, despite the hosts going into the contest on the back of a five-match winning streak which yielded 16 goals.
Indeed, form could be of little consequence again this weekend, and Tottenham fans will be hoping that theory proves to be more fact than fiction on the day.
3 – Arsenal’s fragile mentality
At the moment, Arsenal look something of an unstoppable force, and all signs definitely point to a home win on Sunday – but that is precisely why a home win is anything but a foregone conclusion.
Historically, Arsene Wenger’s side haven’t coped well with pressure and there is a tonne of it on them this weekend. Arsenal are no strangers to earth-returning defeats just when things are looking great for them, few would disbelieve that Sunday won’t throw up another example of this.
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