Morning all.

William Gallas, ex Chelsea, Arsenal and Totts player has been talking about Sunday’s North London derby with Lord Ping.

How can Tottenham start to compete with Arsenal on a regular basis?

From a Tottenham perspective, there are two motivating factors. The first motivation is the fact that it’s a north London derby. That motivation will always be there – Tottenham will want to be better than their rivals in the Premier League, so that is one factor. The second motivating factor, and I’m sure the fans have been thinking about this for a while and will be letting the Tottenham players and staff know that they can potentially stop Arsenal from becoming champions. I think the Tottenham players will do everything to put a serious dent in Arsenal’s title challenge.

It’s double motivation for Tottenham on Sunday. This season, under Ange Postecoglou, Tottenham have improved a lot. This game is going to be absolutely electric. Arsenal will go there with a lot of confidence. I’m sure that we’re going to see quite a few goals on Sunday.

Defensively, Tottenham have been a little bit leaky. Why do you think they’ve had a few issues recently and how can they resolve them?

We don’t know how Tottenham are going to approach this game. Postecoglou generally sticks to his guns, so we can expect the team to press the ball very high and to also play with a high defensive line. They can play in this aggressive way without the ball because they have players that are very quick, especially at the back.

Arsenal can play beautiful football. They have players that can exploit the spaces that Tottenham will leave, so I think it will be difficult to stop Arsenal, especially after the 5-0 result against Chelsea. This is a group that are full of confidence. They are playing without pressure. I think Arsenal will win if they can score first. They will travel to the Tottenham Stadium with the same spirit as they approach the Chelsea game. If Tottenham score first, I think it could be a little bit different. They could sit back a little bit and play on the counterattack. With the way that Arsenal play, if you want to beat them then you have to score first.

How impressed have you been with how Arteta has adapted this season (such as when playing v City) and has that been the key to them being genuine title challengers?

Of course, the performances against Manchester City and Liverpool have been crucial in Arsenal’s pursuit of the title. Those results and performances show you that Arsenal have gone to another level this season.

To win the Premier League, you have to win against your direct rivals. You have to beat the big clubs. At the same time, you have to beat the small clubs and Arsenal haven’t always been able to do that. That has been Arsenal’s problem: dropping points that they shouldn’t drop at home to teams like Fulham and West Ham. Losing at home to Aston Villa.

I’d hardly call West Ham, Fulham and Aston Villa small clubs but he’s right, there has been 2/3 games which Arsenal could have won. Not should, but could. We created enough chances in all three games to take maximum points but simply couldn’t turn those chances into goals and that’s what has hurt us. Or at least it looks that way. Against Chelsea, we scored 5, but even so, how many other golden opportunities to score did we miss? Too many, far too many.

If the stats are to be believed, so far this season Arsenal have averaged 17 shots per game with just 6 on target. Interestingly though, Man City average 18 shots per game with 7 on target. The reason we’re top of the goals scored table is because we’ve had a handful of high scoring victories which will make a difference should the season end with us, Liverpool and/or Man City level on points. Villa too could come into the equation should any one of the current top three clubs have a melt down over the next few weeks. Not as far as the Premier League title goes but certainly the top four placements although if Chelsea beat them today, I think fourth place is the best position they can finish in.

Another fixture of interest for us is West Ham v Liverpool which takes place at lunchtime. David Moyes side still have a chance of securing a place in Europe next season if results go their way over the next few weeks so hopefully, they’ll put up a good fight against Liverpool.

Tomorrow of course it’s Totts v Arsenal followed by Nottingham Forest v Man City. Forest desperately need points if they’re to remain in the Premier League. There’s just one point between them and the relegation places. Hopefully Luton will be Wolves this afternoon then Forest will put up an even bigger fight against City tomorrow.

Catch up in the comments.

 

 

Discover more from Highbury House

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading