Both Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have a whole host of injury concerns ahead of this weekend’s showdown
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The North London Derby returns on Sunday afternoon (16:30 GMT) and both Arsenal and Tottenham will have a series of injury issues to resolve before the two arch-rivals face off at Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal remain four points clear at the top of the table ahead of the clash, while Spurs are down in fifth place but have made great strides under new head coach Thomas Frank so far this campaign.
The Lilywhites have not won away at Arsenal since 2010, though, and their recent record against the Gunners does not make for pleasant reading as they hope to get one over on their high-flying neighbours.
As many as 18 players could miss the encounter, with major absentees on both sides in addition to a series of fitness doubts for both managers to resolve over the coming days. We could therefore see much-changed starting XIs when the two north London rivals take to the field at the Emirates.
Arsenal injury news as Gabriel out while long list of doubts for Arteta
Arsenal’s highest-profile injury worry ahead of the match has undoubtedly been Gabriel, who injured his thigh while away on international duty with Brazil and has now been confirmed as out for a number of “weeks” by Mikel Arteta. Whether he will be back before Christmas is currently unknown, but the Gunners’ colossus at the back will be a major miss.
With Gabriel the only Arsenal player confirmed to be out, Arteta will be sweating on the returns of no less than eight players who are currently a doubt for Sunday.
All of Martin Odegaard, Noni Madueke, Kai Havertz, Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Martinelli were targeting a return after the international break and while Arteta confirmed the quintet are doing well in their recoveries in his press conference on Friday, he did not expand on which players are set to be available for selection from the group.
In addition, Arteta praised Gabriel Jesus as his recovery from an ACL injury comes towards a close, with the Brazilian training with the first team “for the last almost two weeks”. Whether Sunday comes too soon for him remains to be seen, but a place amongst the substitutes may not be out of the question.
Meanwhile, in-form full-back duo Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber both picked up knocks during the international break and currently remain doubts for the weekend, though neither is believed to have a serious injury and both will hope to start.
Tottenham injury news amidst several absentees for visitors
Spurs were given a massive boost during Frank’s latest press conference when the Dane revealed that Randal Kolo Muani, Pape Matar Sarr and Lucas Bergvall are all fit and “available” following recent injury concerns.
Mohammed Kudus is also expected to return after missing the last two matches, but remains a doubt for now. Ben Davies, Archie Gray and Kota Takai are also doubts, having trained with the team but may not quite be ready for involvement at the weekend.
Spurs remain without five players who will be out for the derby, including long-term absentees James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Radu Dragusin, the latter of whom returned to friendly action over the break. Yves Bissouma is also expected to remain on the sidelines, while Dominic Solanke is not yet ready for a return to action, as confirmed by Frank.
"Dom is not ready yet,” said Frank. “I think he also had an article recently where he spoke about it. So we are very, as I said, the same.
“Very aware that when we put him out there, we want to be absolutely sure, as sure as we can be, that no setback going forward. So I'm comfortable he will soon be ready, but I will not put a timeframe on it."