When is Tottenham vs Arsenal? Derby fixture date and time with Premier League top four place at stake

Tottenham and Arsenal are both locked in a heated race for a top four place in the Premier League, and their next meeting could be one of the most important derbies in years. Only the top four teams in the Premier League are guaranteed a place in next season's UEFA Champions League.

Spurs were on an impressive run under Antonio Conte, scoring goals at a regular clip with Son Heung-min and Harry Kane back on top form, but a few slips saw Arsenal take control of fourth place. Only a Tottenham win in the North London Derby will give them any hope of catching up with only two matches remaining after the final whistle.

For several weeks it was Arsenal which had been in the driver's seat for fourth place, and despite a slight dip that coincided with Spurs' mid-March hot streak, it's still Arsenal in the driver's seat on the strength of three straight wins as Mikel Arteta leads a resurgence at The Emirates.

The now re-scheduled date for the North London Derby is Thursday, May 12 and it shapes up to be a decisive game for both teams as they chase Champions League football.

MORE: Updated Premier League standings and races

* = Teams that finish in 3rd and 4th place join the 1st- and 2nd-place teams in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

When is Tottenham vs Arsenal?

The game was originally set for Sunday, Jan. 16, but the Gunners requested that the Premier League move the match due to a shortage of available first-team players.

The new date for the fixture at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is Thursday, May 12 at 19:45 BST in the UK and 14:45 ET in the USA and Canada.

The match will be played over seven months after their last showdown at the Emirates. That was a different Tottenham side coached by Nuno Espirito Santo and it was handily defeated 3-1 by the Gunner on goals by Emile Smith Rowe, Bukayo Saka and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who has since left the club.

How to watch Tottenham vs Arsenal

UK: The match will air on Sky Sports in the UK.

USA: Spurs vs. Arsenal will be shown by USA Network (English) and Universo (Spanish) in the USA with both channels streamed on fuboTV, which offers a free trial to new subscribers.

Canada: All Premier League matches are streamed live and on demand on DAZN in Canada. 

Australia: Optus Sport has streaming rights to the Premier League in Australia.

Why was Tottenham vs Arsenal fixture postponed?

Several Premier League teams struggled with COVID-19 outbreaks in December 2021, prompting a rash of match postponements with clubs left unable to field the minimum 14 players required.

The Tottenham-Arsenal postponement was a slightly different story. It wasn't a COVID outbreak that technically led to the postponement. Arsenal petitioned the Premier League to push the match because of "players currently unavailable across our squad as a result of COVID, injuries and players away with their countries at AFCON."

When the Premier League granted the request, it set off a controversy around whether Arsenal should be able to claim injuries and international call-ups as part of their case to have the match moved.

It was argued by many observers that the spirit of the Premier League's decisions at the time was to accommodate clubs impacted by the spread of COVID-19 which decimated some squads to fewer than the 14 players needed for a match to move ahead.  

What did Spurs and Arsenal say about fixture postponement?

Arteta defended his club's decision to postpone the game:

“It’s gone the other way for us. When we were ready to play a match and it was cancelled twice because the other team had issues. So it can go both ways. But our intention is always to play.”

At the time Tottenham Hotspur issued a strongly-worded statement, questioning the intent of the Premier League's emergency policy.

We are extremely surprised that this application has been approved.

We ourselves were disqualified from the European Conference League after a significant number of COVID cases meant we needed to reschedule a fixture and our application to move our Leicester fixture was not approved - only for it to be subsequently postponed when Leicester applied.

The original intention of the guidance - here - was to deal with player availability directly affected by COVID cases, resulting in depleted squads that when taken together with injuries would result in the club being unable to field a team.

We do not believe it was the intent to deal with player availability unrelated to COVID.

So when Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta recently took issue with the Premier League scheduling matches for his club in close proximity in April, Spurs boss Antonio Conte had a dig at his counterpart:

"I only want Arteta to remember the game postponed — Tottenham-Arsenal — if we speak about unfair," he said. "We postponed the game, Tottenham-Arsenal if you remember. I don't forget this. And it's not right to speak about fair or unfair."

The postponement still irks Tottenham which uses the phrase "we were ready in January" as part of its promo ahead of the May 12 match: 

Dare. Dream. Do. ✨ pic.twitter.com/hxefQMznmG

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) May 12, 2022

Will Tottenham-Arsenal decide the top-four race?

With the game to be played on May 12, it comes just before the last two matchdays of the Premier League season.

With a four-point lead in fourth place, it would represent a decisive blow if Arsenal could win the match. With ground to make up and matches running out, Spurs need a win to come within a point.

A draw would keep the distance at four points with two matches remaining, giving Arsenal the chance to clinch it with a win on the penultimate matchday at Newcastle United on May 16..

After the derby and the Newcastle away match, Arsenal will close out the season on May 22 at home against Everton, and the Toffees could still be in a relegation scrap at that time. Meanwhile, Spurs will take on two other teams in the relegation zone, one of which is already condemned to the drop: Burnley and Norwich City.

West Ham and Manchester United are no longer within reach of fourth place.

The remaining league schedules for both London rivals follow below through to the 38th and final matchday. With the final couple of matches left to be played, FiveThirtyEight gives Tottenham a 20 percent chance (down from 65 percent a few weeks ago) of clinching the fourth spot, with Arsenal at 80 percent.