Danny Murphy has explained why Tottenham fans can be a little hopeful heading into the North London derby on Sunday.
Most pundits, including ex-Spurs players, have not given the Lilywhites much chance of getting a result at Arsenal, and that is not surprising, given their recent record in North London derbies.
Additionally, one has to go back to 2010 for the last time a Spurs side secured a win at the Emirates Stadium.
Tottenham are also missing several key players, giving the league leaders the upper hand, but Murphy believes there is one factor working in Spurs’ favour.
Danny Murphy believes Tottenham will relish playing away from home
The one silver lining for Thomas Frank’s men heading into the red half of North London is the fact that Tottenham boast the best away record in the Premier League this season.
Murphy has opined that the Spurs players would prefer to play this fixture away from home rather than in front of their own supporters.
The pundit told talkSPORT: “It will be an interesting one, because for once in many, many years, you could argue that the Arsenal Tottenham game, which has always been so obviously Arsenal favourite, is now a little bit they’re still favourites, but with Tottenham’s away from four wins and a draw, it’s a better fixture for Tottenham being away than it is at home.
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“The pressure at home for Tottenham is getting to them. They’re struggling, the players to play under that expectation and that that demanding, well, not demanding crowd, but a crowd that wants them to see play creative stuff.
“Away from home, they can be more pragmatic,and I think it suits Tottenham. They won’t have more OF the ball than Arsenal. They can play on the counter and they can play set plays, long throws and stuff like that.
“It’s actually a tricky one, a tricky little fixture for Arsenal. I always think, as well playing big derby games or big games when you are coming back from international duty is harder, because everyone’s coming in with a few days to go and there’s not much prep time. There are some tired legs. ‘do you play him, do you play him?, do you mix it up? do you rest?’ because it’s such a big game, a lot of the time the managers think I’ve got to play their best team.”
Murphy still expects Arsenal to beat Spurs
The Gunners also have some injury concerns of their own ahead of the game, and it has now been confirmed that Gabriel will not be fit for the North London derby.
However, Murphy thinks that introducing fresh legs may not be bad for Arsenal, and he backed Mikel Arteta’s men to emerge with three points.
The former Spurs midfielder added: “Actually, there might be an argument with Arsenal’s strength and depth to make a few changes, because of the amount of minutes some of the players have played.
“I still think Arsenal beat them regardless of whether Gabriel is fit or not. Watching Arsenal play, they are so strong.”