After a defeat last week against the European champions, Arsenal will be looking to bounce back in the Premier League against fierce rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday at the Emirates Stadium.
Both teams have come off of a defeat in the previous fixture and will both be looking to ensure they gain all 3 points and have bragging rights over their North London rivals. One player that will be a large factor into if Tottenham will take home all the points is Harry Kane.
The 26 year old striker has a very impressive record against Arsenal, as he has managed to net 9 goals in 9 appearances against the Gunners and also providing an assist, meaning he has contributed to more goals than games he has played against his North London rivals. If he manages to score on Sunday, it will take his tally up to 3 for the season and it will also make him equal the record for most goals in this fixture.
The record of most goals in the North London derby (10) is currently held by Emmanuel Adebayor and Bobby Smith. Kane’s record would be a lot more impressive because he would have achieved it in 5 less games than his counterparts.
Another impressive stat that the English striker has against Arsenal is that when he has played in the fixture, he has only been on the losing side 3 times, meaning that he could be a large factor into why his team may perform better against their rivals, on the big stage.
If Arsenal manage to get all 3 points in the game, it will take their total to 9 for the season so far out of a possible 12 and could even see them be in the top 2, which a lot of Arsenal fans would have been very happy about if you told them that before the season had started and would send them going into the international break with high spirits.
Also, something that will make Arsenal fans particularly pleased if the team manage to win the game against Spurs would be the points difference between the two sides, as Spurs would sit with 4 points, meanwhile the Gunners would have a superior points tally of 9 across the first 4 games, meaning Tottenham would be playing catch up for the season.
If Arsenal are to win the match, they will need to make sure that Kane is not allowed any space in or around the box as, as proven in previous seasons, he is one of the best finishers in the world and will be able to find the net from the smallest amount of space of the opposition penalty area.
A way that Arsenal would be able to try and nullify the threat caused by Kane would be to try and play a higher line because pace is not a part of the Englishman’s game that he is known to be good at. Meanwhile, this would be a very large risk for Emery to do because Spurs have very quick wingers in Lucas and Son, and this would allow them to be a large part of the game, which Arsenal also do not want to happen due to their individual qualities.
It will be interesting too see if Arsenal will be able to keep Harry Kane out of the game and to ensure that he does not get on the scoresheet due to how successful he has been in the past at doing so against the Gunners and then continue their good start to the season.
