Tottenham vs. Arsenal preview: Injuries, team news and stats

Tottenham Hotspur host Arsenal in the first north London derby of the season on Sunday in the latest instalment of one of the Premier League‘s fiercest rivalries. The visitors will likely have to do without captain Martin Ødegaard, Declan Rice and Riccardo Calafiori for the crunch clash, while Spurs are looking to record their first win in the fixture since May 2022.

Ange Postecoglou’s team will be hoping to put a dent in their near-neighbours’ title credentials while re-establishing themselves as contenders for a spot in next season’s Champions League after managing just one win from their opening three games and losing both star summer signing Dominic Solanke and Richarlison to injury in August — more details on team news, how to watch, the form guide and more below.

Key details:

Date: Sunday, Sept. 15 at 2 p.m. BST (9 a.m. E.T.)

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Referee: Jarred Gillett

VAR: Stuart Attwell

How to watch:

The game will be shown live on Sky Sports in the UK and NBC Sports in the United States. You can also follow along live with ESPN’s live updates.

Team news:

Tottenham will be hoping £65 million summer signing Solanke can return to the starting line-up after he missed their win over Everton and defeat to Newcastle with an ankle blow he suffered during the team’s opening-weekend fixture against Leicester.

Micky van de Ven did not travel with Netherlands for the international break after hurting his knee in the Everton match and should be fit after he too missed the game at St. James’ Park, though Richarlison is set to miss a few more weeks after picking up a knock in training before the break. Yves Bissouma is a doubt for the match after picking up an injury in the second half of Mali’s win over Eswatini on Tuesday.

Arsenal’s build-up to their biggest game of the season so far has been dominated by confirmed and potential absences from the clash, with Declan Rice’s controversial red card in the second half against Brighton ruling him out, while Calafiori and captain Ødegaard both suffered injuries while away with Italy and Norway respectively over the international break.

Calafiori, 22, who joined Arsenal from Bologna this summer, was hurt when Ousmane Dembélé caught him on the back of the leg with his studs after being tackled by another player during Italy’s victory over France.

Ødegaard, meanwhile, covered his face with his hands while being treated on the field midway through the second half of a 2-1 Nations League win over Austria. He appeared to turn awkwardly on his left ankle in a tough challenge with Austria midfielder Christoph Baumgartner as both chased and stretched for a loose ball.

Ødegaard limped out of the game two minutes later and was consoled by his teammate Erling Haaland.

The news of both injuries will not be welcomed by Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta who has already lost another new signing, Mikel Merino, to injury during his first training session.

Merino, a €32.5 million ($36m) addition from Real Sociedad, sustained a fractured shoulder when colliding with centre-back Gabriel Magalhães during practice at London Colney.

In his Friday news conference, Arteta did not confirm whether Ødegaard and Calafiori would be absent for the game, saying the club’s medical team were continuing to evaluate both players and waiting on more test results.

Latest news:

Arteta signs three-year Arsenal contract extension

ESPN reported the news earlier on Thursday, with sources adding that Mikel Arteta will receive a significant increase on his existing £9m-a-year salary.

Arsenal home shirt deemed ‘too white’ for north London derby

Arsenal will wear their away kit against rivals Tottenham in the north London derby on Sunday due to their red-and-white home kit featuring “too much white,” the club said on Tuesday.

Both sides traditionally wear their home kits when they play each other, with British media reporting that Arsenal last wore their away kits in the fixture 38 years ago.

Bentancur charged over offensive Son comment

Spurs midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur has been charged by the Football Association for saying that all South Korean people “look the same” during a television appearance.

The Uruguay international apologised on June 20 in a post on Instagram for the remark that he said was a “very bad joke.” Five days later, Son, Tottenham’s captain, said that he had accepted his teammate’s apology.

England boss Lee Carsley tells Ben White: Three Lions role up to you

Lee Carsley said he has no plans to contact Ben White over a possible England call-up and believes the responsibility lies with the Arsenal defender to make himself available.

Carsley’s predecessor Gareth Southgate said in March that the Football Association’s technical director John McDermott was told in a phone call from Arsenal sporting director Edu that White did not want to be considered for England.

Manager talk:

Both head coaches gave their thoughts on a range of issues during their respective news conferences on Friday.

Postecoglou on rivalling Arsenal: “Not specifically Arsenal — we want to be a club that can challenge everyone. That’s what we are trying to aim to become. To do that, you’ve got to perform at a certain level, at a consistent basis, the squad’s strong enough to do that. We’ve started the season fairly solidly, from a performance perspective. The results haven’t reflected that but I think we’re in a good place to push on from last year and improve on all areas. There’s no reason why we can’t this year.”

Postecoglou on what winning would mean for the rest of the season: “It’s hard to say. I’ve never felt like there is an easy way to success, I don’t think one thing can change the trajectory to a great effect. It helps, a win in a big game, in a derby, but it’s a game against one of the top sides so that gives you more belief and confidence and potentially that can inject some real momentum into our season.”

Postecoglou on what makes Arsenal difficult to play against: “Consistency and approach and mentality. The last two years they’ve had a real relentlessness about them. They haven’t had to change their team too much. They have this confidence in themselves that they can challenge over the course of a Premier League season.”

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Postecoglou calls Arsenal a ‘tough nut to crack’ for Spurs

Ange Postecoglou looks forward to facing Tottenham’s north London rivals Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday.

Arteta on Raheem Sterling’s adaptation to the club and potential to play on Sunday: “He looks great! First of all, because he’s got a big smile on his face, a lot of energy. He’s at it and wants to prove a point. When someone has got that in their belly, you sense it straight away. Obviously, I don’t need to discover anything about his quality and what he can bring to the team.”

Arteta on wearing the away kit for this game: “It’s not ideal — we wanted to play with our home kit and our colours, but it’s not our decision. We’ll adapt, we did it against [Aston] Villa and won, so hopefully it’s going to bring good luck as well.”

Arteta on Martin Ødegaard’s injury: “We need some more tests so let’s see what happens in the next day or so, this afternoon probably, and see what happens, what the extent of the injury is and how quickly we can get him back. He’s super positive about everything. We know Martin — he wants to be there every single day but we have to wait and see.”

Arteta on Postecoglou’s management style: “I admire him. I respect him. I think he’s been an inspirational coach because he’s done things in his own way in various contexts and in various countries. He has a really unique way of thinking about the game and his philosophy, and I love it. He stands by it and I think he represents himself and the club in a really good way.”

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Arteta refuses to rule Ødegaard out of North London derby

Mikel Arteta speaks about Martin’s Ødegaard injury and reflects on his new contract with Arsenal.

Form guide:

Arsenal won both of their opening two matches to start the season before being held to a 1-1 draw with Brighton ahead of the international break.

Their most resounding result came away against Aston Villa, where Leandro Trossard scored with his first touch after coming on as a substitute to set the Gunners on their way to a 2-0 win, aided by some heroics from David Raya.

Jarred Gillett, the Australian referee assigned by PGMOL to this weekend’s game, has already angered Arsenal fans this season after failing to show a card to Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Yerson Mosquera after he appeared to grab Kai Havertz throat during an altercation between the pair in the first game of the season, a 2-0 home win for Arteta’s side.

Meanwhile, Tottenham have been more inconsistent, opening with a draw to Leicester and a convincing win over Everton before falling to a defeat away at Newcastle in their last game before the hiatus owing to a late winner from Sweden international Alexander Isak.

Cutting edge has proved to be Spurs’ downfall so far this term as the team has enjoyed a league-high 68.5% of possession on average but failed to convert that into meaningful chances.

That issue reared its head most obviously during the 1-1 draw with Leicester where they could have been out of sight after an impressive first-half showing, only to be pegged back by a Jamie Vardy equaliser that buoyed the King Power.

Key players:

Son Heung-Min: The South Korea star has scored eight times in 19 appearances in all competitions against Arsenal since joining Spurs in 2015 and will be confident of adding to that tally on Sunday.

Bukayo Saka: Arsenal’s talisman has scored or assisted in all three of their games to start the season — the Gunners have only lost one of the last 15 games in which he has contributed.

Key questions:

Can Ange Postecoglou’s daring style of football withstand Arsenal’s attacking prowess?

Postecoglou earned a plethora of plaudits for Spurs’ high line and swashbuckling brand of attacking football in his debut season in the Premier League, but he also came in for criticism when that style played a role in heavy defeats — most notably the 4-1 home defeat to Chelsea.

Arsenal’s forward line will no doubt be hoping to exploit that shape with the likes of Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and new signing Raheem Sterling all posing a considerable threat on the counter attack.

Will Arsenal’s midfield be able to cope without Declan Rice?

Debate around whether Chris Kavanagh was right to send Rice may still be rumbling on in the red corner of Islington, but on the pitch, focus now shifts to whether Thomas Partey, Jorginho and co. can adequately step in for the England international as he serves his ban.

Rice featured in all 38 of Arsenal’s Premier League games last term, starting all but one, so whatever combination Arteta selects in his absence will be relatively untested.

Stats:

• Sunday’s game marks the 196th contest between Tottenham and Arsenal, and the 65th in the Premier League.

• Arsenal have won 82 of the meetings, with Spurs winning 61.

• Arsenal have won five of the last seven meetings between the sides since the start of 2021, losing just one.

• Arsenal have won the last two games at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium; another away win would mark their longest such run since 1987.

What happened last year?

The last time Arsenal made the short trip to their north London rivals was a five-goal thriller as the away team kept pace with Manchester City in the 2023-24 season’s title race with a 3-2 win.

It was far from a straightforward affair, however, as Arteta’s side raced to a three-goal lead in the first half before an error from David Raya allowed Spurs back into the game. Rice gave away a penalty to ensure the final minutes of the match were a nervy affair but Arsenal held firm to take all three points.