Arsenal will try to continue its unbeaten start to the Premier League season when it visits Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday for the latest edition of the North London Derby.
Despite the Gunners’ strong beginning to the new campaign, they find themselves two points behind four-time defending league champion Manchester City as a result of their 1-1 home draw against Brighton two weeks ago.
Given that Arsenal has been the strongest challenger to City in the past two seasons, Gunners manager Mikel Arteta realizes there could be temptation to turn Sunday’s affair into an early referendum on the league title race.
So Arteta is attempting to ease the pressure on the occasion while still recognizing its importance to the club and the supporters.
“Day by day,” Arteta said of his team’s outlook.
“If we look at where we’re going to be at the end of May, tomorrow’s game that we have to play and the level and the challenges ahead, we cannot think like this. We’re going to run out of oxygen. I want to have the energy, the enthusiasm for the next day, the next game and prepare that in the best possible way and that’s what we’re going to do,” he said.
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Arsenal has won its last two away matches in the rivalry, including an enthralling 3-2 victory at the end of April that prolonged its most recent title challenge.
In his second season in charge of Spurs, manager Ange Postecoglou knows securing a first victory in his tenure over his club’s biggest rival is important not only to supporters but also to his aspirations for the club.
“Not specifically Arsenal, we want to be a club that can challenge everyone,” Postecoglou said.
“That’s what we are trying to aim to become. To do that, you’ve got to perform at a certain level, on a consistent basis. The squad’s strong enough to do that,” he added.
The good news for Tottenham is that Heung-Min Son has scored twice in the start of his campaign.
And summer striker signee Dominic Solanke could return from an ankle injury that kept him out of Spurs’ last two matches.
Arsenal will be short-handed in midfield, with Declan Rice serving a one-match suspension from a red card earned in his draw with Brighton and captain Martin Odegaard likely out to an injury sustained on international duty.
