After playing the full 90 minutes for the Russian National side on Wednesday against Belgium, Arsenal midfielder Andrey Arshavin could start on the bench in tomorrow’s North London Derby against Tottenham Hotspur.

Writing on his personal website, the midfielder started by trying to explain the reason why the Russians went down so easily at home against Belgium with the 29-year old believing it was a bad day at the office though credit should be given to Georges Leekens’ men.

Asked about the big game at the Emirates on Saturday, Arshavin confessed that manager Arsene Wenger will not be pleased that he played the whole game and how this could decrease his chances of securing a spot in the Frenchman’s starting line-up.

The Gunners face their rivals in Saturday’s early kick-off knowing that a win would put them first in the English Premier League table, at least for a couple of hours with leaders Chelsea having a tricky away game against Birmingham City.

After Russia-Belgium, Arshavin said:

We came to win. Why this score? Because we played badly. Our game didn’t turn out as such. We could not catch hold of the ball and kept on losing it. Plus (or actually minus) the moments when we missed the goals. Of course, one should give the Belgians credit; they had a good match and appeared to be a balanced squad.

Yes, there is an important match ahead of us. Now Chelsea is just two points away. Tottenham, tomorrow I’ll go to training and start preparing for the game.

Most likely, Arsene [Wenger] wouldn’t like that I spent the whole 90 minutes on the pitch. Probably my chances to come out in the starting lineup in this derby have decreased because of it.

But what can be done? In my opinion, Dick gave everybody the opportunity to play, so there was nobody left to substitute me with.