It’s not often a north London derby rocks up and I feel super confident about it, at least not recently.
But that’s how I feel this weekend, although I know I’m probably allowing myself to get a little carried away given the form of the two sides who will meet at the Emirates on Sunday.
Here are five reasons I’m feeling so optimistic
Spurs’ defence
Without Toby Alderweireld, Spurs looked lost at the back when they played Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday in the Champions League. The Belgian defender will miss the game with a knee problem and while Spurs will have had a few more days to work on things at the back, I can’t see them making major progress in such a short time.
With Arsenal’s pace, movement and vision in their midfield and front three, we should have far too much for them. Hugo Lloris will have to be at his best to stop a rout.
Arsenal’s defence
Arsenal’s defence comes in for a lot of criticism but this season, with Shkodran Mustafi alongside Laurent Koscielny, they have looked far more solid.
Arsenal have conceded 10 in the league so far this season, twice as many as Spurs, but four of those were in the opening day game against Liverpool when we played Rob Holding and Calum Chambers as our centreback pairing.
Spurs’ attack
Spurs have scored just 14 goals this season in the league compared to Arsenal’s 23 and without Harry Kane, they have struggled to score from open play. The English man should be back in the squad, and could even start on Sunday, but how fit and sharp can he be after missing the last six weeks or so with a knee injury?
10 different players have scored for Spurs this season, netting a total of 21 goals in all competitions.
Arsenal’s attack
With Olivier Giroud out, Arsenal had no problem scoring and now that the Frenchman is back with three goals in his last one and a bit games, Arsene Wenger is spoiled for options in attack. Add in goals and assists from Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey and Arsenal are not relying on any one person to win a game for them.
10 different players have also scored for Arsenal this season in all competitions, but they’ve netted a total of 41 compared to Spurs’ 21.
Arsenal’s three leading goalscorers this season (Alexis 8, Walcott 8, Ozil 7) have scored more goals (23) than the whole Spurs team.
Mental strength
We heard so much about ‘mental strength’ throughout the Banter Years when it was quite clear we had none so Arsenal fans are naturally weary of this phrase. But, this season, we really do seem to be showing it by the bucketful.
Can you think of any other November when we could have went two goals down away from home in the Champions League and came back to win it? How many times have we seen heads drop when teams like Sunderland get an undeserved equaliser in unfair circumstances?
This team really does seem like a different animal this season and no matter what Spurs contrive to throw at Arsenal on Sunday, I have every confidence it will be returned with interest.