Arsene Wenger wants his players to be efficient against Tottenham on Saturday.

Arsenal have once again had their toughness questioned on the eve of a big game.

When asked if his side was tough enough, Wenger dismissed the idea and played up the importance of quality.

“Well, that’s the kind of remarks you’ve had for 20 years,” he told Arsenal.com.
“I remember many people asked me if Pires would be tough enough to play in the derby. This is a guy who scored more goals than anybody in the derby. At the end of the day, it’s down to the quality of the game.”

Pires loved scoring in the North London derby. In his prime, he seemingly scored every time the two sides came together.

It’s that level of efficiency that Wenger is after from his current players.

“We have to agree on what is tough and what is not tough.
“I believe that a football player has to be efficient and that counts the most. Efficiency if you’re a defender is not to make any mistakes and to win the ball. If you’re a striker, it’s to put the ball into the back of the net. Is that tough? It doesn’t matter too much – it’s how efficient you are in your game.”

Goals have been hard to come by against Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham. In six league encounters, Arsenal have scored six times with six different goalscorers.

Unfortunately, this hasn’t been balanced out by clean sheets. Arsenal have conceded in every one of those six games, and have let in nine in total.

If Arsenal are to get a long overdue win over their rivals, then they’re definitely going to have to improve at both ends of the pitch.

A bit of extra toughness wouldn’t go amiss, either.

Tottenham can be a dirty team when things don’t go there way, so a bit of aggression from the likes of Granit Xhaka and Sead Kolasinac – within reason, of course – would be useful.