Arsenal are a few steps ahead in their development when compared to their North London rivals, and it’s hard to see Tottenham springing a surprise in this derby. Tottenham have not won against Arsenal in the Premier League at the Emirates since 2010.

Arsenal have won four of their five home matches this season, with the exception of their 1-1 draw against Man City. Arsenal have been the dominant side in all of these games, netting 12 goals (second most at home in the Premier League) and conceding just once - the best home defensive record in the division.

Tottenham are unbeaten on the road until now, with Spurs actually boasting the best away record of any side in the Premier League. However, I’d expect Arsenal to challenge this record with the dominance they’ve shown in their home matches.

Thomas Frank has had teething issues in getting his side to click in the final third. The absences of James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski naturally makes chance creation a more laborious task for Tottenham, who will struggle to break through what seems to be an impenetrable Arsenal backline at times.

Tottenham have also had issues when it comes to competing against sides in the top half of the Premier League. Four of their five wins this season have come against sides in the bottom half of the table, with the exception of their 2-0 win over Man City right at the start of the campaign.

There is a sense that many are expecting a pragmatic affair here with both Mikel Arteta and Thomas Frank being managers that like to obsess over details and calculate their risks. That being said, Arsenal find themselves now being hounded down by the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea with those clubs determined to make a fight of this title race.

Arsenal have netted 12 goals across their five games at the Emirates this season (2.4 per game). Only Manchester City (16) have scored more goals at home than Arsenal in the Premier League this season. The Gunners come up against a Tottenham side that boast the best away record in the Premier League with four wins from their five matches - and 12 goals scored across these games.

You have to go all the way back to 2013 for the last Premier League clash at the Emirates between these sides that didn’t produce at least two goals. Although both sides have shown pragmatic tendencies in the early stages of the season, the derby element of this clash should come into play for this selection and produce at least two goals in this encounter.

Tottenham have definitely improved as a defensive unit this season and while a lot of the credit for that should go to Thomas Frank, Vicario has also been a key player in ensuring that the Lilywhites maintain a solid defensive record with Tottenham only conceding three goals across their five away matches this season - the fewest that any side have conceded on the road in the Premier League this season.

Vicario has been forced into making 34 saves this season (3.09 per 90), maintaining a save percentage of 77.3% across these matches. Vicario also sits top of the goals prevented metric for goalkeepers in the Premier League with the Italian keeper being the only shot stopper to have a goals prevented tally in excess of 4.0 (4.40).

This tells us that Vicario is not only making run of the mill stops, but actively contributing to keeping Tottenham’s goal conceded numbers to a manageable level. Vicario didn’t feature in this fixture last season, but his stand in - Kinsky - was forced into making three saves as Arsenal ran out 2-1 winners over their North London rivals.

Vicario has been forced into making 3+ saves in six of Tottenham’s 11 Premier League matches this season, he’s been forced into at least two saves in all five of his away matches in the Premier League, which is a metric that Arsenal should be able to improve on with the Gunners averaging 4.70 shots on target per game in the Premier League this term.

Djed Spence has developed a bit of a reputation for being a 1v1 specialist, notably taking to social media every time he effectively manages to shut down a winger. I don’t think he’ll have as much success here though with Spence lining up against Bukayo Saka.

Spence committed two fouls in this fixture last season from 16 duels in total during the contest. Saka didn’t even start on that occasion with Spence’s main opponent being Raheem Sterling. Saka has won a remarkable 19 fouls across his nine Premier League appearances this season (2.50 per 90) which is a metric that suggests he can really cause Spence issues.

Spence has committed nine fouls across his 10 Premier League appearances this term (1.06 per 90) with Saka being the perfect opponent to tempt the Tottenham fullback into committing at least one foul in this North London Derby.

Leandro Trossard has been one of Arsenal’s most underrated players so far this season with four goal contributions to his name in the Premier League (2 goals, 2 assists). He’s currently overachieving his xG + xA which sits at just 2.90 - this is the biggest over performance of these metrics in the Arsenal squad. 

Trossard was in fine form just before the international break with goal contributions in each of his last three matches against Sunderland, Slavia Prague and Burnley. These aren’t the most glamorous of opponents, but it shows how useful Trossard can be in the overall impact of the squad with Arsenal seriously improving their squad depth over the summer.

Trossard also has recent history against Tottenham. He scored the winning goal in this fixture last season and can be a threat in the final third again here with his recent positive form. There’s also a decent angle with super sub here as Martinelli has been incredibly effective from the bench for Arsenal this season with his strikes against Manchester City and Athletic Club coming to mind.

I’ve been really impressed with Martin Zubimendi so far, Arsenal were desperately crying out for a player of his profile to complete their midfield unit and free up Declan Rice to operate in more of a box to box role - where he is naturally at his best.

Zubimendi has received two yellow cards in the Premier League this season with the most recent of these cautions coming in Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Sunderland just before the international break. He’s committed 14 fouls across his 11 Premier League appearances (1.34 per 90) so he’s one of Arsenal’s key players when they don’t have the ball.

Zubimendi is likely to brush shoulders with Xavi Simons here. Simons has had a tough start to his Tottenham career but has shown some consistency when it comes to winning fouls. He’s won 10 across his six starts in the Premier League this term (1.68 per 90) which should be enough to tempt Zubimendi into committing a few fouls here, resulting in a yellow card.

Arsenal committed 16 fouls in this fixture last season, seven more than their opponents. This is quite interesting as you’d expect Arsenal to be the more comfortable side at home, but the aggression associated with the North London Derby appears to bring out an extra edge in both sets of players.

This period of the season is really important for Arsenal, just a few weeks ago they had a substantial lead at the summit of the Premier League but that now sits at just four points, and could be even more slender by the time that Arsenal kick off here. Arsenal are averaging 10.5 fouls committed per game in the Premier League this season so we are looking for a rise in that metric here.

Tottenham were consistently one of the most fouled sides in the Premier League last season. This has dropped off a bit under Thomas Frank with the Lilywhites averaging 9.0 fouls won per game, but the intensity behind this North London Derby should see both sides sucked into the contest and improve on their foul committed and foul won numbers this season.