Arsenal face Tottenham in the North London derby on Sunday in a huge game for both sides. Back your team by betting with 138.com and get a free bet!
Paul Merson and Tim Sherwood have made the usual plea for attention pre-North London derby by picking ridiculously Tottenham-heavy combined XIs.
This is nothing new at this point. Last season, we saw Adam Crafton post a ‘combined XI’ of entirely Tottenham players, before getting upset after Arsenal drew attention to the post after winning the match 2-0.
https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/931895814720548864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E931895814720548864&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.goal.com%2Fen%2Fnews%2Fstorm-in-a-tea-cup-arsenals-ozil-tweet-shows-up-wider-social%2F1dsm1payaukxp189kvrgh7ojlz
This year, Tim Sherwood and Paul Merson have decided they want that same treatment, picking very similar lineups for Sky Sports. Sherwood didn’t pick a single Arsenal player in his side, whilst Merson only gave Mesut Özil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang spots in his:
Tim Sherwood and Paul Merson have picked their combined North London Derby XI…
Watch #TheDebate now on Sky Sports PL and tweets your questions below. pic.twitter.com/78FCjDvrdI
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 29, 2018
There are a number of embarrassing selections we could pick out here, but perhaps the worst of all is that neither Sherwood nor Merson chose Lucas Torreira for their team, instead opting for Eric Dier.
WhoScored analysis shows that Torreira is better at long-shots, interceptions, taking set-pieces, passing, tackling, concentration, winning free-kicks and blocking the ball. Meanwhile, Dier is better at aerial duels. There is no logical reason why you would pick the Englishman unless your only criterion for success is winning the ball in the air.
Then there’s the fact that Sherwood hasn’t even picked Tottenham’s best side. Harry Winks’ inclusion is particularly bizarre, as even Mauricio Pochettino seems to prefer Sissoko. The former Newcastle man was their starting midfielder in the win over Chelsea last week, not for the first time in big games.
Trippier is injured, so he should have no more claim to a spot than Koscielny. That point applies to Merson too of course. Given Merson and Sherwood are both Englishman, we can probably guess why they’ve picked Trippier over Aurier or Bellerin.
It would be easy to go on about Alexandre Lacazette’s exclusion despite being Arsenal’s best player this season, or Hugo Lloris making it in after performing worse statistically than both Bernd Leno and Petr Cech. It’s not really worth the effort though, the can team do the talking on the pitch this weekend.
Arsenal face Tottenham in the North London derby on Sunday in a huge game for both sides. Back your team by betting with 138.com and get a free bet!