If there were ever a match that were to be played that would help to get fans back onside following the embarrassing FA Cup defeat to Nottingham Forest last weekend, then the North London Derby would certainly have to be considered one of those.
Of course, the game with Liverpool in the Carabao Cup on Thursday will have been at the forefront of many Arsenal fans’ minds, however many will also have been looking to the encounter with Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, as well.
Indeed, Mikel Arteta’s side have been going well in the Premier League recently as they have been able to pick up a number of results, whilst performances appear to have gotten better. Many instantly look at the Manchester City game as one where the display was one of which fans could be proud of, despite the final result. Then again, the defeat to Forest is one that will have only angered those same fans.
Nonetheless, the club has the perfect opportunity to put things right on Sunday, although it would seem that they are slight underdogs in this particular contest. The Gunners are priced at 9/5 for the victory by Betway Sportsbook, which is slightly longer than the odds provided for Antonio Conte’s side.
Things have certainly changed since the 3-1 victory at the end of September, although some would suggest the Gunners have managed to get better whereas Spurs have not.
Despite sacking Nuno Espirito Santo and replacing him with Conte, they continue to appear to have their own problems and Arsenal will want to make sure that they are good enough to exploit it when the two sides meet at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at the weekend.
Arteta will be without a handful of players for the game, as well, with some of them having jetted off to Africa to represent their countries in the Africa Cup of Nations tournament. That will have included Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who scored in the 3-1 win against Spurs earlier in the campaign.
However, with the Gabon international seemingly appearing to have disgraced himself and effectively had his Arsenal career ended, there is no doubt that he would have likely been an absentee for this game as well.
Thomas Partey’s absence, though, is one that will perhaps be felt the most, especially as he seemed to finally give everyone the type of performance that we all know he can against Manchester City.
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