Tomorrow will see Arsenal and Spurs face each other in the first of the two classic north London derby encounters which who knows, may not be on the cards next season. Denilson returns after a suspected back injury and I honestly hope Wenger sticks with Song after Sunday’s fantastic performance in midfield. Kolo Toure is also match fit and most likely Adebayor will start as well.

Having just appointed a new coach and won their first match under Redknapp, Spurs will be determined to come at the Emirates and keep the momentum going. As for us, the win away at West Ham was a big one, bigger than one may think I repeat and above all, it saw the team produce a fantastic performance in all areas of the squad. Arsene Wenger told the club’s official website:

Overall it has been very good. We have come back to one point behind Chelsea when everyone thought they were untouchable and that makes it open. Maybe next week Liverpool will drop points. It’s a very open championship but it’s very early, with just nine games played. We are not even halfway through the first half so we will have a lot of surprises to come.

Now we have a big game on Wednesday so let’s win it. Arsenal is playing Tottenham at home and that means we want to win the game.

I believe if there is one game that is a bit special, it is Tottenham versus Arsenal so I don’t think that will change a lot. Certainly in the longer term future it will change things for Tottenham, the fact that Harry has taken over, but I believe in tomorrow’s specific game it is more about how well we will play and I believe that is more important than anything else.

I am very confident because we have a very strong united spirit in the dressing room and we want to do well.

The match comes only days after Wenger expressed his disappointment with the quiet fans of Arsenal and I’m more than sure on Wednesday, they will make their voices heard. And, let’s not forget that the more matches we win now, the more solid our position will be in table ahead of Eduardo’s return. On the Croatian, Emmanuel Adebayor told Sky Sports:

Of course, everyone loves Eduardo. He has shown how important he can be to the team. I think he will be hungry for football and to score goals for this team again. With him back we know we will have someone else who can score goals. We can be looking sharper and that can help us achieve.

Again, last season Eduardo was injured during this part of the season but this year he’ll make his comeback and will definitely be an extra asset in the formidable Arsenal forward-line.

As for Tottenham, well, remember what striker Pavlyuchenko said when he signed? To refresh our memories, his words were:

At the Spurs camp they put it to me like this – score against Arsenal and you are a hero.

So that will be another thing to keep a close eye on. He did score, last weekend and apparently, that brought the smile back to all Spurs players. He told Sport Express:

The most important thing is not my goal, but the first victory of my team. During today’s training session, everybody was smiling at last – recently, players had looked rather sulky. I hope after the victory we should have a breakthrough.

Statistics

Home and Away
League (inc PL): Arsenal 59 wins, Spurs 45, Draws 38
Prem: Arsenal 13 wins, Spurs 5, Draws 14

at Arsenal only
League (inc PL): Arsenal 36 wins, Spurs 17, Draws 18
Prem: Arsenal 9 wins, Spurs 1, Draws 6