Hector Bellerin has been accused of ‘snubbing’ Tottenham players when picking his Premier League fantasy football starting XI.

When asked to choose his best Premier League starting XI this season, Bellerin neglected to pick any of Spurs’ players, which has led the Evening Standard to claim that the right-back ‘snubbed’ them.

“I would start with Lukaku, a striker who scores loads of goals,” said the 22-year-old. “Then Azpilicueta from Chelsea – for a defender he gets quite a lot of assists and scores quite a few goals as well… and then I don’t know.

“Kevin de Bruyne maybe, someone who gets loads of assists and scores goals as well. That would be the three I would choose.” 

“It would probably be the one who scores most goals, so Lukaku. That would be a good choice.”

While Harry Kane has scored one more (eight) than Romelu Lukaku (seven), you could argue that Lukaku has assisted two more (three) than the Spurs man (one). You might also point out that Manchester United are higher than Tottenham in the league table at the moment after the Red Devils beat them 1-0 on Saturday.

Of course, the idea that Bellerin deliberately left out all mention of Spurs players because they’re Arsenal’s bitterest rivals is obviously another logical explanation. And probably the preferable one.

Arsenal face Spurs at the Emirates on 18 November and since we only managed to win a single point against them last term, the least we can do is try and beat them at home after the interlull.

Tottenham currently sit in third place in the Premier League, one point ahead of Chelsea (fourth) and the Gunners (fifth). Whatever happens, it looks like it’ll once again be a cracking North London Derby.