Arsenal Vs Spurs: Be brave, press high

Arsenal travel to Spurs for the third North London Derby of the season on Saturday. To win, they must be brave, press high, and play at speed.

It might be the biggest game of the season. Somehow, after five wins in their last six Premier League matches, Arsenal have pulled themselves into touching distance of not just a top-four finish but third place, with this weekend’s match coming against the very team they would so desperately love to overtake.

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The third North London Derby of the season sees Spurs host the Gunners holding just a four-point advantage and coming off two damning losses. Suddenly, Unai Emery, in his first season at the Emirates, has the chance to put his team in a position to finish above Spurs, quite the statement to build his era upon.

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For that to happen, though, he and his team must do something they have not done since January 2015, four years ago: win against a top-six team, away from home. And if they ever wanted to break their curse against the best teams in the Premier League on the road, this is the perfect chance to. Spurs are riddled with key injuries, imploding upon themselves, and, dare I say, beginning to ‘bottle it’.

And that must factor into the tactics that Emery employs on Saturday. For Arsenal to beat a very good Spurs team on Saturday, I feel that they must be brave, press high up the pitch, and take the game to their opponents, even though they are playing away from home. The reasoning is two-fold, and fairly simple: it is the best tactic for the players Emery has; it is a tactic that Spurs, with their injuries and their mental state, could struggle against.

Firstly, from the Arsenal perspective. I have stated for many, many years that this is a squad that works best when playing on the front foot. Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Granit Xhaka, Lucas Torreira, Sead Kolasinac. These are players that come to the fore when the game fractures apart, they pick up the pieces, and prise open the gaps in the opposition. They lack to play in an attacking, aggressive manner. So let them. Be brave. Play with intensity and purpose.

But more importantly, Spurs have proven themselves to be tactically and mentally fragile. Burnley were able to disrupt them last weekend. Chelsea were excellent in the second half, simply outrunning Mauricio Pochettino’s men. With Harry Winks dealing with an injury and Dele Alli already confirmed out, Spurs are lacking their key pressure-evading midfielders. Moussa Sissoko is a runner, but he can be forced into errors. Christian Eriksen can be suffocated of opportunity and forced deep, and that leaves an isolated Harry Kane and Son Heung-min.

Obviously, gaps will appear at the back. Laurent Koscielny and Sokratis will have to do a lot of covering. And Spurs do have the attackers to cause Arsenal problems if given the opportunity to do so. But that is the risk you take. I would much rather see Emery go for it than sit back and wait for the inevitable onslaught of Spurs attacks — they have scored a slew of late goals recently because they are excellent at breaking down even the most disciplined of deep-lying defences.

Arsenal have the players and the opportunity to be aggressive, to be the ‘protagonists’, as Emery puts it, to take the game to their rivals. So why not play that way? Why not be brave? It’s risky, yes, but it might just work.