ARSENAL face a make-or-break North London derby as they look to shrug off back-to-back cup defeats.
Mikel Arteta’s side drew against Brighton before falling to a Carabao Cup semi-final defeat to Newcastle.
They then exited the FA Cup after a penalty shoot-out loss to Manchester United.
Yet all is not lost, because the Gunners have the chance to regroup and refocus their attention on the Premier League title battle, currently six points behind Liverpool.
However, their next match could be a season-defining game for them as they host bitter rivals Tottenham on Wednesday.
Ange Postecoglou’s side have been in sticky form of late, beating Liverpool in the Carabao Cup before needing extra time to triumph over National League side Tamworth.
SunSport’s Will Pugh and tactical guru Dean Scoggins have highlighted five areas how Spurs could KO Arsenal’s title bid this season.
Organised chaos
There is a perception about Tottenham that they play a very wild style of football, and while this is true to a degree there is more than meets the eye within Postecoglou’s system.
The Aussie manager’s uniquely rigid attacking structure incorporates a left-hand set and a right-hand set of players.
And in the last few weeks, that system has – believe it or not – been adapting amid a flurry of errors from young and inexperienced players parachuted into the team due to an injury crisis.
The current treatment room list means the likely centre-back pairing for this game will force Radu Dragusin to be paired alongside Archie Gray, with brand new goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky in goal.
Spurs will look to nullify their mistakes by playing out from the back even more than has been seen previously, with Yves Bissouma dropping into the space between them as they split to receive the ball.
In attack, Tottenham look to operate as a pair of wheels on either side of the pitch but without much crossover to the other flanks.
In this system, only the centre-backs, holding midfielder and striker are asked to stick to their main position, often allowing them to dominate possession due to overloads.
Unfortunately, this system can make Spurs susceptible to teams setting up against them, as Arsenal did at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium earlier this season.
Underlap, overlap, wandering free
Tottenham are a team who often do not look to generate chances through crossing from out wide, but do tend to score a lot with cutbacks.
This is often due to Spurs relying heavily on underlaps with the wingers hugging the touchline while the fullbacks – likely to be Pedro Porro and Djed Spence against Arsenal – invert centrally.
Spence, a right-footed full-back, has been particularly impressive deputising for Destiny Udogie at left-back in the last few weeks.
In a perfectly executed gameplan, this pair of wheels allow for the full-backs to move forward into a dangerous area before being able to find a cutback for a more central team-mate.
One of the main sources of Postecoglou’s frustration this season has often come with Spurs giving the ball away and the wheels literally falling off.
But to that end the former Celtic boss has tweaked his tactics.
The first change to the system has been to concede some ground and move the team deeper to accommodate for Gray and Dragusin not being as quick as Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero.
The full-backs are also not going forward as quickly, with Porro in particular showing much more discipline in the last few weeks.
The third change has been to use to two pivots to collect the ball and build up instead of one, with Bissouma and one other dropping in to help the ball progress.
Sterling effort
It does not take a genius to figure out Bukayo Saka’s absence from the Arsenal team has hit them hard.
The Hale End graduate has been a talismanic figure for the Gunners since breaking into the team, and was their spearhead across their last two title challenging campaigns.
While most teams may tend to split attacks more evenly across the field, Arsenal often played much more down the right, mainly due to Saka’s excellence and his strong link with Martin Odegaard.
Ethan Nwaneri and Gabriel Jesus had both played in the role before getting injured themselves, which almost certainly means Raheem Sterling is going to be asked to play there against Spurs.
The former Liverpool and Manchester City star will be key for Arsenal if they are to get anything from the game.
What Arteta will ask the ex-England international to do is pick up the ball on the run, rather than with his back to goal, allowing him to then make a diagonal run into an interior position.
Movement like this will allow Sterling to crossover with Kai Havertz in a nightmare rotation for the Spurs defence, offer a lay off to Odegaard, or try and find Gabriel Martinelli as he bombs up the left flank.
The presence of Spence up against Sterling will create a unique opportunity for Arsenal to exploit, with Jurrien Timber potentially being allowed to go up the space left on the outside.
Sterling, 30, has flattered to deceive since arriving at the Emirates on loan.
He had an indifferent game against Man Utd on Sunday, but could have a watershed match against Spurs as he is finally given the chance to prove he can help the misfiring Gunners hit their mark.
Art stoppers
There is a perception around Arsenal that they have failed to hit the same heights as they did last season, having struggled to score in open play in many games this campaign.
Despite going out of the FA Cup, Arsenal still have the chance to make a Carabao Cup final if they can muster a heroic performance against Newcastle at St James’ Park.
They can also close the gap on the top of the league if some results go in their favour, which would serve to turn the current negative narrative of the club around.
Arteta has built the bedrock of his team on being defensively sound, and are actually set up in such a way that they have an extra player screening to prevent counter-attacks.
Declan Rice and one of Mikel Merino or Thomas Partey are often the players charged with this duty, but the key to unlocking Spurs may need to come from Arteta taking the shackles off of his team.
While Arsenal have a dangerous attack on paper, the lack of movement from midfield – while often proving defensively sound – hurts their chances of open play goals due to there not being enough movement to give opposition defenders cause for concern.
Consequently, this has led to their attack becoming stodgy due to it being too rigid.
However, to break down Spurs, Arsenal may need to unlock one of these screening players to make runs beyond the defence and give the defence food for thought.
King Dom’s come
Toothless Tottenham needed to bring on talisman Dominic Solanke to beat Tamworth in the FA Cup.
There was a lot of debate over whether he would be a better signing for them than Ivan Toney, but 11 goals and six assists already this season have proven Solanke to be the right deal.
But there are still many aspects of his game which do not get the credit they deserve, such as his effort, ability to track, pressing and overall world class team ethic.
Solanke is often overlooked for a lot of the off-ball work he makes to open space up for team-mates.
These exploits can include his runs forcing a defender to commit to marking him or pinning defenders.
Against Arsenal he is likely to target William Saliba rather than Gabriel Magalhaes in the air.
Spurs will look to use the England international as a key pivot player up front, using him to play off the two wheels on either side of their attack.
Solanke is often able to unlock defences when he has runners such as Brennan Johnson going beyond the defensive line in behind, with this ability being integral to a number of goals through pre-assists.
The 27-year-old will be key for Spurs’ front-footed defence against Arsenal, while his team-mates know if they can use him to his best he will help them create a dangerous chance even if he is not the one to finish it off.
And it is thanks to the likes of Solanke, that the last game Arsenal would want at the moment is Tottenham.
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