NORTH LONDON DERBY DAY BLOG

by .

THE BIG DAY IS HERE.

Arsenal go to war with Tottenham at The Emirates.

The first MEGA game since fans have been allowed back in the ground.

The first game of this season that truly, truly counts.

This is a cup final, there is no doubt about it, the boys have to show up.

On paper, it’s quite simple for me. Arsenal have a better team, Spurs have better individual talent.

Moura, Alli, Kane and Son are going to be problematic. Kane can kill you from anywhere, he lacks pace, but he’s one of the sharpest strikers in the game. Son is lethal on the counter, we know what a Kane ball over the top can do to Arsenal. All of those players love playing against Arsenal. You can know about their qualities and still not be able to do anything about it.

Spurs have been dreadful this season. They are still a low margins operation in big games. They had 2 shots on target against Chelsea last week despite a good run in the first half. They totally collapsed in the second half, Chelsea created 14 shots, 10 on target. They were awful against Palace, managing just 2 attempts all game. I thought they were second best against Wolves and City.

… but you know how it goes. Form doesn’t count, it’s about who shows up on the day. Today, it simply has to be us.

There are some things we’re looking for.

Granit Xhaka is weirdly splitting fans down the middle. For me, he’s out the side currently because he did two stupid things concurrently. Since he’s been absent, we’ve won all our games. I’d prefer to have Sambi starting out there. He moves the ball faster, he’s more aggressive with his passing, and he’s more mobile.

I don’t think there’s really a debate on which keeper we want out there. But this is a big one. Doing bits against Burnley was huge for him, but that’s bread and butter. What we want to know is how does he do under the bright lights of a derby game? More shots to deal with, more pressure, better oppo. This game is massive for his season.

It’s also a big game for Ben White. The ‘he gets bullied’ narrative was binned against Burnley, and made to look a little laughable as Ivan Toney dominated against Liverpool’s defenders yesterday… but he needs a complete game. We want to see elite passing, we don’t want him putting others under pressure, and we’d like to see some leadership. On the Brentford story, are we at the point now where we can say they are a bit good? Liverpool’s best team conceded 3. We lost with 9 players on the outpatient list. You always want to win, but it’s pretty clear they are no whipping boys this season.

Outside that, we have to look to our big names to bring home the bacon. Auba needs to keep running, because the goals will come. Odegaard, who is one of the best pressers in the league currently, needs to lead and show us the special sauce he has. Finally, we need our wide players to show up with shots on target today. ESR, Pepe, and Saka need to bring the levels up.

This is also a special one for the fans, who have been excellent all season. We need to tear the roof down for this one. Encourage the players, make them feel special, and make loads of noise all game. We’ll be doing out bit on the site. I honestly can’t believe I have to say it, but if you are in the comments here sniping at Arsenal on a NLD day, you’ll go in the bin. No one wants to read it. This is an Arsenal blog, if you behave like a rival fan, you’ll be moved on.

Back to some more context. If we win today, we’d be 5 points off top of the table Liverpool. United lost to Villa, Liverpool dropped points to Burnley. The MIGHTY Leicester, the team with the biggest fan club going because they make Champ Man signings… drew to Burnley. The Premier League is outrageously strong this season, it’ll be close between the teams below City and Liverpool. Let’s hope we can keep pressure on the chasing pack.

Ok, that’s me done for now. Tune in for an OTW podcast right after the game.

TWITCH or YOUTUBE

SEE YOU IN THE COMMENTS x

 

718 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Sid

Im here for the comments!

The Bard

Fabulous result. Our pressing was good. We played with purpose and intensity especially in the 1st half. Is this the start of something ? Who knows we have had so many false dawns since Wenger left. Arteta has secured his job at least for the time being.

Jamie

Yesterday’s win still feels fantastic.

Absolutely shredded Spurs in the first half. The passing and movement was so good, and the transitions from defending to attack happened so quickly Spurs didn’t know what hit them. Amazing.

What’s sad is a few superfans wasting their evening laying into other Arsenal fans as if the win meant more to them for some reason.

Matt is right, AFC is a massive twat who comes here to rile folk up after a win. Strange guy.

Gonsterous

Pedro

Definitely tame against norwich and Burnley, you could see us with the handbrake on, focusing too much on not conceding. Putting in a master class defending act like burnley are city or pool

Last night, my oh my, handbrake off, instinctive play, and free flowing footie. That’s what we want week in, week out.

Wish we came out with the same NLD mentality every week

kjelli

Ödegaard is slow but he is tidy and has a good head and composure… bring Harland and he can
talk norse to him while setting up an assist !!

Le Sauce

I think Pierre is right regarding the match going fans and even Arteta alluded to it during his post game interview that the pressure seemed to be coming from outside while the home fans never stopped supporting. There was no plan or process evident in the previous home games but the fans always supported especially against Chelsea and Arteta himself said it was the only sort of encouragement they had hence dedicating the wins to the fans. Regarding the game, early days for anyone to be dishing the “humble pie” it’s a North London derby and the form book goes… Read more »

Le Sauce

Left to me, it’s curtains for Pepe and Leno at the moment. On paper they’re starting eleven players but on the pitch they should only be used as subs at the moment. Saka on the right is a no brainier, Esr should retain the left hand (Nasri-esque) role, Ramsdale distribution and claiming of high balls is better than Leno’s, in fact this should be our first team moving forward with the occasional changing of Lokonga with Xhaka whenever necessary

Mr Serge

Morning everyone what a beautiful day it is

Samesong

Ramsdale saves the ball and admires his save at the same whilst in mid air.

Bleeding Guns

Sporting a mean hangover. What a game lads! What a game! The infighting has to stop however, rarely seen a set of fans bicker as much as we do. Lay of slating our boys until the next match, should be good vibes and positivity for now. Bask in the afterglow you muppets!

DigitalBob

Still buzzing after yesterday’s performance. Best atmosphere at the emirates in a very very long time. The entire team showed great desire and determination and the fans fed of that just a brilliant day all round. Loved the On The Whistle Pedro, Johnny and Matt really hit the nail on the head with some of those takes. Super Tom will be a great player for us, a solid right-back and we look transformed. Yes Arteta deserves credit for this deal and it shows he is learning from his mistakes(Cedric). Ramsdale’s mentality alone (the save at the end was superb) is… Read more »

Mr Serge

Anyone who slates the team after yesterday is neither a supporter of fan lol

Foxy

not yet seen the game but what gives me real confidence is Nuno’s comment that Arsenal were stronger and more physical than spurs. makes sense as we now have a an agressive fast RB, Partey fit in MF, Gabriel back at CB and a more physical goalie. Then as back up with have two really strong fast players in Sambi and Tav.

The Bard

I think lockdown has had a lot to do with how vocal the fans are. I took it all a bit for granted before. It feels special to get back to watching live football. Whether that will wear off I don’t know. Not sure its got anything to do with the team.

Raulishuss

Over the last ten games ARSENAL has been the second best team in the league. But it seems all it takes is one bad result for there to be a crisis. Strange that

Ben D

Rich, I suspect you have watched highlights. That game wasn’t close. It’s rich (pun intended) to point out all of Tottenham chances and decisions that favoured us only as evidence that it was close. Can you also list all the chances we created?

Ben D

It was one of the most comfortable games I’ve been to. We never looked at risk of losing this one…. Never!!!

AFC Forever

We have to temper expectation. This is a young team that is still learning together & developing an understanding. Yesterday the desire & energy you get from young players was evident, Spurs couldn’t live with the intensity and way our players go about them. . Hojberg is usually a bully but Xhaka & Partey bullied him yesterday. The speed through transition for the goals showed we can play at a high tempo & was a change from the slow build up play we have become used to. In Ramsdale we have a leader at the back and infectious enthusiasm. Early… Read more »

1 6 7 8