Mohamed Elneny can be Arsenal’s secret weapon vs Spurs

What will it take for Arsenal to beat Tottenham? What will it take for Tottenham to beat Arsenal? These are the questions both sides will be asking themselves ahead of the biggest game of either teams’ seasons.

Since Antonio Conte came, and progressively over the course of this season under Mikel Arteta, the two north London sides have began to forge their identities.

In terms of playing style, any manager of Tottenham will know he needs to build around Harry Kane and Heung-min Son. Conte has catered to their skillsets while simultaneously raising the level across the rest of the team. There is no denying he’s improved them considerably since taking charge.

Mikel Arteta has used just about every formation and system in the book across his tenure, although it is the emergence of the 4-3-3 since Christmas time that Arsenal have truly come alive. Emphasis on occupying the right spaces, overloading in wide areas, and squeezing the opposition high up the pitch is at the forefront of his philosophy.

Tottenham vs Arsenal: Mohamed Elneny can be the secret weapon for the Gunners with teams still finding out about his technical reach

That is what Tottenham know, even if that approach has merged into a double pivot on account of certain absences.

What they don’t know, however, is how effective Mohamed Elneny can be. Nobody has quite clocked on yet, and it’s helped the Egyptian play the best football of his Arsenal career to date.

One can’t expect the unexpected. Across the last four matches we’ve seen a new side to the Egyptian, one sprinkled with progression, vision and a newfound mentality with the ball at feet. It isn’t just sideways or backwards.

That which he’s producing is due to his ability and determination, but the way opposition sides are viewing him in their analysis has played a part. Looking at the Gunners’ midfield pre-match, the likes of West Ham, Chelsea, Manchester United and Leeds earmark Granit Xhaka as the progressive threat in the centre. If there is someone they’re going to mark that little bit tighter, it is him.

A degree of underestimation comes into it, much in the same was Arsenal supporters never thought they would see this side to Elneny in red and white. Every Premier League game across this recent run there has been at least one standout ball in behind a full-back or centre-back for an onrushing forward, and against a side who will leave spaces behind their wing-backs, this could be a valuable tool to utilise.

It would be discrediting to state Elneny is only picking these passes out because nobody ever gets near him. That isn’t true. He still has to pull them off. But his surprise inclusion over recent weeks seems to have caught opposition sides off guard, with these new strings to his bow presenting Arsenal with something different, and the opposition something new to deal with.

A game that expected to be played at a frantic pace in an intense atmosphere, if there is someone who might be afforded that touch of additional time on the ball, it could be Elneny. He isn’t going to thread an eye-of-the-needle pass through four bodies, put one on a plate of Martinelli six yards out, or pick out the top corner with every shot, but anyone who underestimates in this fixture runs a big risk.

Spurs could live to regret that.