Arsenal have won three consecutive Premier League games and are in confident form ahead of the North London Derby against Tottenham on Saturday.
With Spurs having now lost two games in a row - including midweek against Chelsea - their outside shot at the title has all but evaporated and they now must concentrate on holding off the various challenges in the chase for Champions League football.
Defeat to the Gunners would leave a gap of just one point between the rivals in the top four race.
Arsenal will be optimistic considering they beat Spurs quite handily back in November in arguably their best Premier League performance of the season.
But to do so will require an improvement on their away form in general and against the rest of the top six in particular.
Victory in Huddersfield three weeks ago was their first away win for two months and they have tasted defeat at Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City this season as well as drawing at Manchester United.
Nonetheless, the five-goal haul against Bournemouth midweek will have inspired plenty of belief in the Arsenal attack.
Arsenal Injuries
Laurent Koscielny suffered a minor knock to his knee against Bournemouth but that is not expected to keep him out. Stephan Lichtsteiner has also returned to full training, according to the club, having been missing through a back complaint.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles has missed the last three games through illness but should be available.
Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding and Danny Welbeck are long-term casualties.
Arsenal Suspensions
Neither team has a player suspended for this match.
Arsenal Potential Starting Line-Up
Unai Emery again shuffled his pack midweek with Granit Xhaka sitting it out altogether and Alexandre Lacazette dropping to the bench despite his strong 2019 form.
Mesut Ozil started for the first time in Emery's 3-4-3 formation and did well alongside Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Saturday, however, might not be the game for the German.
Carl Jenkinson made his first Premier League start for the best part of three years as deputy to Bellerin, Maitland-Niles and Lichtsteiner, who were all unavailable.
This weekend Emery will make changes again and could opt to draft Xhaka back in and return to a back four.
The form of his forward players means Emery has options, but Lacazette should start after his rest on Wednesday. Alex Iwobi too comes back into contention for a start after beginning the Bournemouth game on the bench.
Depending on illness and injury at the back, Maitland-Niles and Koscielny should start.
Tottenham Team News
Dele Alli has been out since late January with a hamstring injury and the weekend could come too soon as he approaches match fitness.
Jan Vertonghen was unavailable for the Chelsea defeat due to a hip complaint but could well be back in contention for Saturday.
Eric Dier was absent due to illness but it is unknown whether he will be available.
Opta Match Facts
- Tottenham Hotspur have won five of their last seven home Premier League games against Arsenal (D1 L1), including each of the last two; only once in their top-flight history have Spurs won three consecutively at home against the Gunners (between January 1960 and August 1961).
- Arsenal are looking to complete a Premier League double over rival Spurs for only the fourth time, also doing so in 2004-05, 2007-08 and 2013-14.
- The away team have won just one of the last 16 Premier League fixtures between Spurs and Arsenal, with the Gunners winning 1-0 at White Hart Lane in March 2014; the home team has won each of the last four since April 2017.
- This will be the fifth meeting between Tottenham and Arsenal at Wembley, with Spurs winning two (D1 L1). They could become the first team to beat the Gunners on three separate occasions at the stadium.
- Tottenham haven’t lost three consecutive Premier League games since November 2012, the third defeat of which came against Arsenal.
- Arsenal have won five of their last six Premier League games (L1), as many as they had in their previous 13 in the competition (W5 D5 L3).
- Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino has never lost a home Premier League game against Arsenal (P5 W3 D2 L0) – the only manager to have managed more home games against the Gunners without losing is Jose Mourinho (9).
- Spurs striker Harry Kane has scored eight of Spurs’ last 11 Premier League goals against Arsenal; only Wayne Rooney (12), Robbie Fowler (10) and Peter Crouch (9) have scored more Premier League goals against the Gunners than Kane’s tally of eight.
- Harry Kane has scored eight goals in eight Premier League games between Spurs and Arsenal, a joint-record in the competition along with Emmanuel Adebayor (8 in 13 games).
- Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has scored more London derby goals than any other player in the Premier League this season (6).
TV Coverage & Kick-Off Time
Kick-off is 12:30pm GMT (7:30am ET) on Saturday March 2, and will be televised in the United Kingdom on BT Sport 1 and BT Sport 4K UHD. It will also be streamed on BT Sport Live. It will be shown on NBCSN in the United States and will be streamed on NBC Sports Live and NBCSports.com.
