Tottenham head into the North London derby with a growing injury crisis, with up to 13 players unavailable or doubtful for Sunday’s game against Arsenal.
Arsenal, as you know, have their own problems, with injury ruling out Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke, Gabriel, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli and Viktor Gyokeres.
Spurs’ situation, however, is worse.
They will be without James Maddison (knee), Dejan Kulusevski (knee), Dominic Solanke (ankle), Ben Davies (thigh), Radu Dragusin (knee), Yves Bissouma (ankle), Archie Gray (calf), Randal Kolo Muani (jaw) and Kota Takai (thigh).
There are also doubts over Lucas Bergvall (concussion), Mohammed Kudus and Pape Matar Sarr. Cristian Romero is being assessed but is expected to play.
The North London derby arrives with Arsenal eight points ahead of Spurs in the Premier League table, with one more goal scored and five fewer conceded.
Recent history is also in Arsenal’s favour. They have won five of the last six Premier League meetings, drawing the other, and are on their longest winning run in the fixture since the late 1980s.
Tottenham have lost seven of their last nine league games against Arsenal, the same number of defeats they suffered across the previous 25. Their record at the Emirates is even worse. Arsenal have lost just once in their last 32 Premier League home games against Spurs, a 3-2 defeat in 2010, and have scored in all 26 home derbies since.
Arsenal have also scored at least twice in each of the last eight home meetings, their longest home scoring streak against any opponent in the Premier League.
The North London derby rarely follows any script, but on form, availability and with the weight of their recent record, Spurs arrive at the Emirates for the first time under Thomas Frank with far more to overcome than the Gunners.
The pressure, however, is all on Mikel Arteta‘s side who will hope to maintain their four-point lead over Manchester City, who could cut that gap to a single point on Saturday evening when they play Newcastle United.
On Sunday, Michael Oliver returns to referee an Arsenal game for the first time since he farcically sent off Myles Lewis-Skelly in January.
Stuart Atwell will be on VAR.