Tottenham Hotspur begin interim life under Igor Tudor with a difficult North London derby against Premier League leaders, Arsenal.
Victory could lift Tottenham up to 14th if Crystal Palace lose at home to Wolves in the mid-afternoon kick-offs, otherwise they will climb above Leeds into 15th position with a win.
Arsenal meanwhile can move back to five points clear of Manchester City with victory.
Team News
Wilson Odobert is ruled out for Tottenham after he suffered an ACL injury in their 2-1 loss to Newcastle nearly a fortnight ago, in what proved to be Thomas Frank’s last match in charge as manager.
Dominic Solanke is a doubt due to a sore throat.
Cristian Romero (suspension), Kevin Danso (toe), Destiny Udogie, Pedro Porro, Rodrigo Bentancur, Richarlison (all hamstring), Lucas Bergvall, Ben Davies (both ankle), Mohammed Kudus (quad), James Maddison (ACL) and Dejan Kulusevski (knee) are still ruled out.
Arsenal have no fresh injury concerns to report following their 2-2 draw at Wolves on Wednesday evening.
Kai Havertz (muscle) and Martin Odegaard (knee) could return, whilst Mikel Merino (foot) and Max Dowman (ankle) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Tottenham host Arsenal at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday 22 February at 4:30pm GMT, live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Tottenham are winless in their last seven North London derbies against Arsenal (D1, L6).
- Arsenal have won each of their last three previous visits to Tottenham (W3), having previously failed to win any of their eight visits beforehand (D2, L6).
- Mikel Arteta’s Gunners have kept clean sheets in two of their last three visits to Tottenham.
- Spurs are winless in their last five league matches at home (D2, L3).
- Arsenal have won one of three away London derbies in the Premier League this season (W1, D2).
Prediction
With Tottenham sat four points clear of the drop, Tudor certainly faces a tough task to instil confidence and exciting play into this squad who just lacked much desire in their defeat against Newcastle, particularly to the extent that they embarrassingly chased passes once completed by the Magpies at some points.
His suspension and injury list also doesn’t make his life easier but if he has anything to be thankful for then it is that Mickey van de Ven is available, because if he was injured on top of Romero’s suspension then Tudor would be in charge of a ship without its steering wheel.
Arsenal meanwhile just have to reset because they were dominant at Wolves and clinical with their own opportunities, but they really should of defensively shut up shop at 2-0 rather than leave Wolves players unmarked during crosses to punish them ruthlessly.
Now that is two points dropped which could again be costly come end of season given that City are finding their groove and surely Arsenal know how dangerous their title rivals are in the season’s run-in form wise from past experience.
I however do expect them to get the job done because Spurs are just a deep mess at the minute quality wise domestically, although the hosts will be keen to impress Tudor and give fans something positive if can’t get the local bragging rights.
Prediction: Tottenham 1-2 Arsenal
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