The Game

The North London Derby. After three positive results against Shrewsbury, Bolton Wanderers and Olympiacos Piraeus, the Gunners pay a visit to their rivals knowing that only a win would be considered an acceptable result.

And this is because under normal circumstances, a non-win result this afternoon wouldn’t be a surprise as we all know how bizarre North London derbies can be in which anything can happen regardless of the strength of the two teams.

But this time, considering what happened during the summer and considering what happened in the first few weeks of the season, we simply cannot lose, we actually cannot even afford to draw if we are to honestly aim for the title as Arsene said in mid-week.

Ahead of the game, we have our usual injury concerns as Yossi Benayoun, Sebastien Squillaci, Johan Djourou, Thomas Vermaelen, Theo Walcott, Gervinho, Laurent Koscielny, Jack Wilshere and Abou Diaby are all out or set to face late fitness tests on Sunday morning which usually means that they will either not feature or they will be rushed back into action with the risk of suffering a setback.

In a way, today’s game brings up two “interesting” facts in my book. The first one is that the last time we played before the International break we were humiliated by Manchester United with the players needing almost a month to recover from that defeat and two, this time last year we lost 3-2 at home against West Bromwich Albion when the Club announced their healthy financial situation.

Today we will try to change that as having to wait fourteen days to “bounce back” from a defeat is a long time whilst on the other hand, if we win, it would be the best possible way to approach the International break and look forward with optimism.

Ultimately, we could easily use Arsene Wenger’s train example to explain our season start. He believes that the reason why we didn’t catch the first couple of trains is because we didn’t have enough personnel to take us to the train station in time. I instead say that the reason is that we ignored signs along the way, signs that clearly indicated that the personnel had to change before it’s too late.

But anyway, this is where we are now and this evening we will know what our main objective will be in the English Premier League. Spurs have a two-point lead in the table, with a game in hand and if we lose we could easily be back in the relegation zone with the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea running away at the top.

To conclude, my apology to the Arsenal medical team as it seems Cesc suffered a hamstring injury that will keep him out for three weeks. Last week, not sure if in an article on in the forum, I was wondering how come he didn’t suffer any injuries since joining Barcelona but this shows that his Arsenal “trouble” had absolutely nothing to do with our medical team, to which I indeed raise my hand and offer an apology.

As always, my favourite line-up is below. Remember you can submit your own at Arsenal Interactive and then share it on Twitter and Facebook.

Favourite line-up

As said in the introduction, players who face “late fitness tests” should not be utilised as the risk of suffering a setback is always.

So it will be important, today, to start with healthy players(so I’m ignoring Theo and Gervinho for this game) and, most importantly, experience. The defensive department should be the same one that started in mid-week as Andre Santos demonstrated that he could be a better defensive option than Kieran Gibbs who would be a poor option considering who Spurs have on the wings.

In midfield, the options are many. I’m afraid Emmanuel Frimpong is too much of a hothead to use in such an important derby whilst on the other hand, Francis Coquelin was one of the few positive notes when we were trashed by United at Old Trafford.

As for why I would go for Tomas Rosicky, very disappointing in mid-week, well it’s a matter of experience. Ultimately the other option is Aaron Ramsey who is yet to fully convince this season. Make no mistake, not that the Czech is having an out-of-the-world season but I want to believe that he will step up and bring his experience to a difficult game.

Offensively, I would start with Andrey, Alex and Robin. Say what you want, but whenever big games are around the corner, for me, Andrey is the man. As for Oxlade-Chamberlain, he is an intelligent young man and I’m convinced he is fully aware of how reluctant he was to defend on Wednesday and will not make the same mistake today.

The Gunning Hawk Coverage

As always, tune in for team line-ups, streaming links, half time and full time reports, post-match thoughts, video highlights and what the press is writing. And of course, do contribute if you want to by making use of the comment box available at the bottom of the post as it’s always nice to hear your opinion. And as a final note, if you want to go one step further than just leaving a comment and want to have your articles published on our website, take a look here for more information.

Arsenal Interactive

And of course, don’t forget you’re still in time to pick your preferred team for this game. And when the final whistle blows, don’t forget to rate the players, comment on their performances and share your personal ratings with your friends. All this and more, available at http://www.arsenal-interactive.com.