Tottenham Hotspur take on Arsenal in a crunch north London derby at Wembley this weekend.
The hosts will be aiming to move seven points clear of their fierce rivals without Dele Alli and potentially Eric Dier, who are set to miss out with a hamstring injury and tonsillitis respectively. Jan Vertonghen, however, is faces a fitness test in his potential return from a hip problem.
enough to rule the duo out. Stephan Lichtsteiner could also return from a minor back issue.With the team news in mind, we’ve had a look at how the sides might line up. Here are a few predictions from some of Britain’s media outlets.
1.Spurs go with three at the back, Lacazette and Aubameyang start
In our preview of the derby, we’ve tipped Mauricio Pochettino to revert to a back three, but perhaps only if Vertonghen is available after missing Wednesday’s defeat at Chelsea with a hip injury.
Doing so will free up the full-backs and put more emphasis on attacking down the flanks rather than defending. Kieran Trippier and Ben Davies both struggled at Stamford Bridge, particularly the former, so Serge Aurier and Danny Rose are likely to come into the side.
Pochettino will need to drop an attacker to make way Vertonghen, and it will probably be Erik Lamela, who showed more fight than Tottenham’s other attacking midfielders against Chelsea but is generally of less importance than Christian Eriksen and Son Heung-min.
Despite Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette forming a sporadically effective partnership this season, Arsenal have sometimes prospered from leaving one of the strikers out.
That said, both Aubamayeng, who started, and Lacazette, who came off the bench, were on the scoresheet against Bournemouth on Wednesday, and Unai Emery will be tempted to begin with two up front to take advantage of their confidence.
Mesut Ozil opened the scoring in Arsenal’s midweek rout and should start a rare away game against a top six rival. The Gunners would be wise to adopt a narrow approach, something Burnley were successful with against Spurs last weekend, and so Emery might go with a 4-2-2-2 of sorts. Alternatively, Aubameyang could play on the left, cutting inside to join Lacazette when necessary.