Arsenal take on arch-rivals Spurs in the Premier League on Sunday and both these teams will be trying to get back to winning ways after drawing their previous matches respectively.
A 10-man Gunners side were held to a 1-1 draw by Leicester City while Spurs failed to score even a single goal against Bournemouth on Thursday. And this pair of results mean that both the North London clubs still need to sweat it out in order to qualify for the Europa League next season.
Arsenal will obviously go into this game as the slight favourites but according to pundit Michael Owen, its Spurs who will come out on top during Sunday’s encounter.
He wrote for BetVictor: “Arsenal’s good run of three consecutive Premier League wins which propelled them up the table, came to an end against a resolute Leicester City on Tuesday night in a 1-1 draw but that won’t have dented their confidence or their hopes of a place in next season’s Europa League.
“Tottenham were held to a lacklustre 0-0 draw by Bournemouth last time out and look devoid of goals and confidence.
“They are still in the hunt for a Europa League place but Jose Mourinho has a huge job on his hands if he is to get them back to challenging at the top of the table.
“The point against Bournemouth means that Spurs now sit one place and one point behind Arsenal in the table and Mourinho will no doubt be relishing the prospect of putting one over their North London rivals.
“This North London derby is always a feisty affair with seven penalties in the last seven Premier League meetings between the two. However, without the usual fervent fans, I expect this to be a much tamer encounter although I do expect goals.
“I’m going for a closely fought 2-1 win for Jose Mourinho’s men.”
Arsenal have more confidence than their local rivals going into this game and surely they will want to start the match on the front foot. And this is precisely where Jose Mourinho’s forte lies.
The Spurs manager is the best tactician when it comes to shutting down opponents and stop them from scoring and maybe this will be key in helping Spurs pick up all three points during the North London Derby.
