We’ve seen some tremendously entertaining north London derbies over recent years, and with Spurs sitting in sixth place in the Premier League and Arsenal just a place and two points above them, this meeting on Saturday promises to be a classic. Of course it would be hard to match the back to back 5-2 victories for Arsenal in 2012 in terms of the number of goals, but with a good number of prolific goalscorers likely to feature, we wouldn’t bet against a hatful of goals in this one.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men have put in some big performances of late and have won six of their last eight in the league, a run that includes that impressive 5-3 New Year’s Day triumph over Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea. Arsenal have also won six of their last eight, with their best result undoubtedly being the 2-0 victory they earned when visiting champions Manchester City. Earned is the operative word too as the Gunners showed a hitherto absent defensive resolve to grind out the win despite having very little possession (by their high standards).
Considering that Tottenham have lost at home to Stoke, Newcastle and West Brom this season, and managed only a draw with Crystal Palace, we have to believe that Arsenal will have more than enough to get the three points. With the return from injury of Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil, Wenger’s men will simply have too much quality and we can see them overrunning the middle of the park and creating chance after chance, giving Olivier Giroud and others more than enough ammunition to kill the game off.
Tottenham v Arsenal Betting Tips
- Arsenal to win and both teams to score – At odds of 3/1 with Bet365 we think this is one of the bets of the weekend. Both sides are in good form, but though Harry Kane is banging them in for Spurs, we can’t see the home side’s backline holding out against the unerringly fine Arsenal attack.
- Harry Kane to score at anytime – Having said that, we can see Kane finding the net (again) and we’ll be backing him to do so at 15/8 with Betfred.
- Over 3.5 goals – Whatever the result, goals look assured in this one and taking the best odds of 15/8 with BetVictor for four or more goals to be score in the game, as has happened in four of the last nine league meetings between the sides, could well bring in a tidy profit.
- Arsenal to win by two goals – While the north London derby often has a whiff of unpredictability about it, we are confident that Arsenal will win this one with room to spare. Given Kane and co should get at least one goal in reply, we can’t see it being a rout, but backing the Gunners to win by a two goal margin certainly appeals at nice odds of 11/2 with Sky Bet.