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Arsenal Vs Tottenham: 3 Things To Watch For
By Brian Wong
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Date: Nov 8
The North London Derby is like a school swimming test, everyone is watching and everyone is going to know if you fail (because you will be sinking rather than swimming). Like that, this Sunday Arsenal will either sink or swim. Yes, there are three possible results but really there are only two and in the North London Derby, if you ain’t winners then you definitely are losers.
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- 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
- Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
- 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
Arsenal will be coming off of a horrible yet expected loss at Bayern, whereas Tottenham will be coming off a win against not Bayern. So here are three things to look for on Sunday.
1) No one will stop Ozil
As Squawka.com tells us, Ozil had zero chances created and zero shots attempted against Bayern Munich. Yet he made 94% of his passes and let’s be honest, Bayern is the golden standard when it comes to talent on all corners of the pitch.
Tottenham are not Bayern, and to be honest only a handful of teams on earth are at Bayern’s level (if that). So I think it is safe to say that we will all be expecting beautiful passes, unexpected passes and ridiculously smart passes by one Mesut Ozil.
Related: Three Match-Ups To Watch For Against Tottenham
Furthermore, despite the poor attacking statistics on Ozil in Germany, he actually showed a willingness to be apart of the defense, winning over 50% of his tackles and contributing to 3 key defensive plays. Considering he has only been apart of one key defensive play in all his leagues games this season, I would have to say that is a positive.
Ozil is going to be able to dominate possession and combine with Cazorla to create chances from all areas on the pitch. Tottenham might have firepower but they don’t have anything to limit the abilities of Arsenal’s two best play-makers.
2) Reality checks are always nice
That game against Bayern was something I fully expected. Actually I think most of us would agree that Arsenal isn’t on Bayern’s level yet.
The loss may have been devastating to our Champions League hopes, and it may have revealed an exhausted team in the end of that game. However, it also gave Arsenal a good dose of reality. It brought the first team players back to earth and gives them a chance to re-focus and make sure they don’t get humiliated again this season.
Arsenal FC
Or at least that should be the mindset of the locker room. If that is the case I think we can expect some magic from the Arsenal team. Magic along with a lot of heart and Alexis Sanchez running all over the field, nullifying the point of having a heat chart of the pitch.
3) Cech ain’t no spring chicken
Cech is more like a rooster who is in charge of a farm. I’m not sure if that is the right description of how a farm works but that is how I see it.
Cech is the guy who is in charge, he commands everyone’s respect, even the opponents. Cech has demonstrated to all of us that he can be the vocal leader and organize the defense well, despite a horrible zonal marking system on all set plays.
Cech is respected because he is amazing. He constantly reminds us of his brilliance. Averaging 2.6 saves a game in the Premier League doesn’t even begin to show how amazing he is. As Squawka.com further illustrates his amazing abilities through his four saves per goal conceded and his average goals conceded per game of under one.
Next: Arsenal vs Tottenham: Bellerin, Koscielny and Full Injury Update
Wenger might not make a lot of moves in the transfer market, and I may have been critical of his purchase of Cech but I take it all back and hope the football gods accept my apology because Cech is the biggest reason Arsenal are legitimate challengers to Manchester City in the Premier League this season.