Great news for Spurs: Micky van de Ven and Dominic Solanke are fit to start. Big Ange has picked an extremely attacking team, with Rodrigo Bentancur playing Colin Calderwood in an Ossie Ardiles tribute XI. Brennan Johnson also comes back into the side. The four players who miss out are Radu Dragusin, Wilson Odobert, Yves Bissouma and Pape Sarr.
Jorginho replaces the suspended Declan Rice and will captain Arsenal in the absence of Martin Odegaard. Gabriel Martinelli replaces him, which gives Mikel Arteta a few options. Trossard or Havertz could drop into midfield, or Arsenal could play with a box. Raheem Sterling is among the substitutes.
Since I was small, I have had to fight for everything. You had to be tough in my house. Often there wasn’t any food. I know others have that situation, too, but that is how it was. That is why I have had to be tough. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, this spirit. It’s a winning spirit, as well. It can be positive within the game. It’s been part of me since I started. If you want to reach the absolute top level, you have to be strong mentally.
The calendar never lies, and today it says 15 September. That’s right, September. Not May, April or even December. You wouldn’t know it from some of the previews of today’s North London derby, which have stopped just short of opining that world peace depends on Team X getting a result.
All North London derbies matter, and they’re usually great fun fun for the neutral. And both teams do need a result for different reasons. But it’s still September and it’s probably more conducive to world sanity if we try to remember that.
So, why it matters. Spurs need to improve their performances:points ratio, having taken only 10 from their last 10 league games, and Arsenal could be without their entire first-choice midfield for the first time in years. That’s not ideal when you are a) playing Tottenham and b) watching Erling Haaland gambol towards the horizon. If, say, Arsenal draw today and lose at the Etihad next Sunday, they will already be eight points behind Manchester City.
Then again, if they win them both they’ll be a point above City and at least six clear of Spurs. And whatever happens, there will still be 32 league games remaining. It’s September, stupid.