Tottenham Hotspur will be without at least 10 players for the north London derby on Sunday, with two more potential starters considered doubts.
Following a damaging draw away to Wolves on Wednesday, Arsenal need to get back to winning ways against Tottenham Hotspur this weekend.
Spurs are in poor form, sitting 16th in the Premier League table and just five points clear of the relegation zone. But a change in manager and Arsenal’s own recent slip-ups has given the hosts hope that they can pull off a result in the derby.
Yet one major problem for new manager Igor Tudor ahead of the game is that he’ll be without at least 10 players.
Cristian Romero is suspended after his recent red card, whilst Wilson Odobert, James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Rodrigo Bentancur, Mohammed Kudus, Ben Davies, Lucas Bergvall, Destiny Udogie, and Kevin Danso have all been ruled out through injuries until March at the earliest.
None of those ten players will be involved against Arsenal, but there’s a little more hope in the cases of Richarlison and Pedro Porro, both of whom have hamstring injuries.
Richarlison has been out for Spurs’ last seven games, whilst Porro has missed four, but prior to his sacking ex-Spurs boss Thomas Frank suggested it was a possibility both could return against Arsenal.
“That could be a dream scenario, and it just could happen,” Frank said on January 30th. “We will know a little bit more when we get closer – but it’s in that bracket.”
Arsenal certainly can’t take anything for granted, despite all the Spurs absentees.
The Gunners themselves are likely to be without at least a few players for the game, derby matches often bring surprise results, and after screwing up a 2-0 lead against the worst team in the Premier League on Wednesday, it’s clear that anything can happen if you aren’t up to the task on the day.