As Arsenal prepare for the upcoming North London Derby against Tottenham Hotspur, their local rivals reveal a setback.

Tottenham’s manager, Ange Postecoglou, recently shared news about Ivan Perisic, who suffered a complex anterior cruciate ligament injury.

The Croatian international is expected to be out for the rest of the season.

Perisic, who had a strong start this season, obviously won’t be taking part in Sunday’s clash.

“It’s disappointing for him, disappointing for us because he has had a really strong start to the season. It’s just an unfortunate thing; one of those things, a freak thing in training,” said Ange Postecoglou in a pre-match discussion with SPURSPLAY.

Postecoglou praised Perisic’s experience and impact, especially his cameo role in the win against Sheffield United last Saturday.

Manager’s confidence in Perisic’s recovery

Despite the blow, Postecoglou is confident that Perisic will recover. “He’s a strong-willed individual.

“You don’t have a career like Ivan’s had without being able to deal with this. I’m sure in the course of time he will build himself up and be ready to play football again,” the manager added. Postecoglou is clearly optimistic about the 34-year-old’s strength and mentality to bounce back stronger, something that becomes much harder given his age.

Other injury concerns for Tottenham

Apart from Ivan Perisic, Tottenham will also miss Rodrigo Bentancur, Giovani Lo Celso, Ryan Sessegnon, and Bryan Gil.

However, Postecoglou confirmed that the rest of the squad is in good health, stating, “Health wise, everyone else from last week is fine and ready to go.

“We still have two or three who are a bit longer term but everyone else is okay.”

Preparations leading to the match

In terms of preparations, the Tottenham manager indicated that the team had a full week of ‘strong’ training, unlike the previous week which saw a fragmented schedule due to international duty.

“It’s been a good week, training wise. Last week, we only really had one session altogether after the internationals got in so we had a full week of training, a strong week of training,” said Postecoglou.

While Arsenal look forward to the Sunday clash, Tottenham deal with multiple injury concerns, the most significant being Ivan Perisic.

However, the Tottenham manager remains confident in his squad’s ability to put up a fight, setting the stage for an intense North London Derby.