Tottenham vs Arsenal Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Feb 29, 2016 @ 10:22 pm

Tottenham are going from strength to strength and their latest victory over Swansea City showed another characteristic of Mauricio Pochettino’s side. Despite going a goal down at half time, Tottenham rallied back to gain a vital 3 points to keep pace with Leicester City whilst also taking advantage of Arsenal’s defeat to Manchester United. It also increased the pressure on Manchester City who were on cup duty and are now 7 points away from Tottenham in 4^th. The Champions League is what the fans crave at White Hart Lane but they wouldn’t have dreamt of a serious title challenge in Pochettino’s 2^nd season in charge. He has rightly been linked with the Manchester United position but he’d be foolish to leave a club with a bright future on and off the field. The likes of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Eric Dier have formed the spine of the side and all 3 are performing maturely for their age whilst the club have plans to build a new stadium.

After a major setback in their quest for the Champions League against Barcelona midweek, Arsenal were handed further punishment at Old Trafford despite heading to Manchester as favourites for the first time in the Premier League era. They’ve now gone 3 matches without a victory after they drew Hull City in the FA Cup which now means they will have a replay to contend with in an already busy period for the club. Wenger however has the majority of his senior players fit but one player who hasn’t quite returned at his best is Alexis Sanchez. The ex-Barcelona winger was very quiet against Manchester United and against a relatively weak defence Sanchez should’ve been chomping at the bit as he was in the reverse fixture against United where he scored 2 first half goals. In the space of 3 games Arsenal odds have seriously dwindled in each competition they remain in and defeat against Tottenham could well see their Premier League title hopes dashed for yet another campaign.

Arsenal left it late when Tottenham made the visit to the Emirates earlier in the season as the visitors were the better side for the opening hour before Arsenal eventually managed to claw something from the game. Kieran Gibbs came off the bench to score and give Arsenal 1-1 draw. Arsenal boast a better head-to-head record in the past 10 meetings, winning 6 and drawing 2. Both of Tottenham’s victories came at home and by the 2-1 score line. Harry Kane has scored 3 goals in his last 3 appearances against Arsenal.

Nacer Chadli replaced Erik Lamela and made an instant impact after just 7 minutes as he fired in the equalizer against Swansea on Sunday. The Belgian winger could well be handed a rare Premier League start as most of his appearances this season have come in the cup competitions. Harry Kane returned from a broken nose wearing a face mask but was unusually wasteful in front of goal. Midfield duo Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla are influential losses for Wenger through injury. Per Mertesacker was dropped for the Manchester United defeat but could be back in central defence given the poor performance of Gabriel.

Tottenham

Stats: W-15 L-3 D-9

Recent Form – WWLDW

Arsenal

Stats: W-15 L-6 D-6                                          

Recent Form - LLDWW

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Tottenham (4-2-3-1) – Lloris, Walker, Alderweireld, Wimmer, Rose, Dier, Alli, Chadli, Eriksen, Lamela, Kane

Arsenal (4-3-3) – Cech, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Ramsey, Ozil, Sanchez, Walcott, Giroud

Injury List/Suspended Players

Tottenham – Verthongen (inj), N’Jie (inj), Dembele (inj)

Arsenal – Cazorla (inj), Oxlade-Chamberlain (inj), Wilshere (inj), Rosicky (inj)

Tottenham v Arsenal Head to Head

League Positions