ARSENAL head into the North London Derby as favourites and their ‘bomb squad’ could prove Tottenham’s undoing.
Both teams have notable injury absentees with Gabriel missing for the Gunners and Viktor Gyokeres a doubt.
But Mikel Arteta has plenty of depth to choose from and he could employ a tactic that Spurs will not be able to deal with.
SunSport’s tactical guru Dean Scoggins has identified a weakness with Tottenham’s defensive habits, and suggests Arsenal‘s ‘bomb squad’ could take advantage in the latest episode of Tactics Exposed.
Tottenham defenders Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven are at risk of being pulled out of position by the No9, allowing the likes of Declan Rice and Eberechi Eze to crash into the penalty box.
Bomb squad
One of the things I’ve noticed with the Tottenham defence is they like to chase runners.
Romero and Van de Ven have a tendency to run after players, so what Arsenal will be looking to do is drag defenders into places.
Gyokeres or Mikel Merino could come into feet for the ball and drag Romero in, opening up space for Rice to crash into to get into the box.
The key is how they move the Spurs full-backs away from the defensive line so that they can get their box entries from out wide.
Arsenal are top of the league not just for points, but for penalty area entries with 388.
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So the job for the No9 is to drag centre-backs to allow wide players to crash into the box.
They need to manipulate the fact that Romero and Van de Ven like to chase runners.
Spurs response
Thomas Frank could look to negate Arsenal’s strengths by making his two midfielders, Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentacur, drop deep to support the centre-backs.
Romero and Van de Ven could try to pin the No9 in the middle of the pitch, with their midfield team-mates plugging gaps in the right and left side of central defence.
That could give them six at the back, which Frank may accept as long as Spurs still have an effective counter-attack option.