Tottenham vs Arsenal preview: How to watch, Champions League, prediction, lineups, live stream

Arsenal face a defining moment in their season on Thursday as they make the shortest journey in the Premier League calendar to face Tottenham in the North London Derby. Here is the match preview.

Can it just be Friday already, please?

Victory over Leeds on Sunday put Arsenal in their strongest position of the whole season to clinch that elusive fourth place. Eddie Nketiah’s brace set them up for a breeze of a victory, only to allow their commanding hold on the game to become one of weakness.

It’s not a match that anyone will want to watch back aside from the opening half purely due to the amount of stress is induced, but the points were secured and that is all that matters.

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Tottenham vs Arsenal Premier League preview: How to watch, Champions League decider, score prediction, team lineups, live stream

The North London Derby, however, is always a horrible game. Many will disagree. But the amount of stress this fixture brings, the sheer dread of defeat, is almost intolerable. Arsenal can be 3-0 up with ten minutes to go and it’s still an agonising battle of emotions with every passing second.

So, throw in the prospect of securing a Champions League place at the expense of the very team we all despise so dearly and there are no words to comprehensively describe how this feels. Absolute panic is setting in and it is not even matchday.

Winning this game would be transformative for this project. Everyone knows the team is a few top quality additions away from where it wants to be as a squad and having elite European competition to entice those players and the funding to do so is going to, as Arteta said, make this go ‘bang’. If it hasn’t already, that is.

Get the three points and top four is clinched. Draw and it’s just two points needed from the final two games to be certain of that final spot. Lose and….we don’t go there. Not in this game.

All of which is without mentioning the fact that irrespective of the circumstances, we absolutely detest Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. The lot of them. Horrible bunch. Victory in this fixture is as much about being overjoyed at your success as it is seeing them suffer. There is no better feeling than getting one over them.

Sadly, however, that hasn’t happened on the road since 2015, and not in the league since 2014. Indeed, there has been suffering aplenty.

There are colossal games, and then there are gargantuan ones. Guess which one this is.

How to Watch on TV

When Is Kick Off? Thursday 12 May
What Time Is Kick Off? 19:45 (GMT)
Where Is it Played? Toilet Bowl
TV Channel/Live Stream? Sky Sports (UK) fuboTV (USA)
Referee? Paul Tierney
Who is on VAR? Mike Dean

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