Arsenal vs Tottenham: 5 key players in second North London Derby

4. Henrikh Mkhitaryan

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has had a very bad year, but all along, I’ve been reminding people that he is, in fact, a fantastic player and that, at some point, he would turn things around. Because you can’t keep a good player down forever.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 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
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

It’s too soon to say that things have completely turned around, but Henrikh Mkhitaryan was an easy man of the match winner against Southampton, and it’s a crying shame that his quality performance got buried underneath a poor result. But don’t lose the fact that Mkhitaryan was in charge of that attack, and I mean that in the best way possible.

On the contrary, Mesut Ozil, while not horrible, did not make the most of his time on the pitch. I get that he created two chances, and that’s all well and good, but even when he came on, Mkhitayran was still the main man.

I would therefore Expect Mkhitaryan to be available and on the pitch against Tottenham at some point, even if he doesn’t start, and I’d expect his performance to be key to any early success we might have. Which we really need to have, because starting slow every single match is getting a bit old.

Thankfully, Mkhitaryan doesn’t really have a “slow” mode, he just has an ineffective mode. If he starts fast and effective early, he can kickstart things.

Moving on to No. 3.