Arsenal’s Héctor Bellerín, who missed the midweek 5-1 drubbing by Bayern Munich, will play no part in Sunday’s derby with Tottenham due to his groin injury. Spurs will be eager to extend their unbeaten Premier League run against their neighbors.
Arsene Wenger is hurting. Having put together an impressive five-game winning streak in the Premier League over the past two months, his side saw their Champions League dreams pushed to the edge of a precipice after a mauling in Munich, with two-goal Thomas Muller helping Bayern to a crushing 5-1 win at the Allianz Arena in the week.
Now, with the players licking their wounds, Wenger is preparing for the visit of the in-form Tottenham at the Emirates on Sunday. Spurs, who moved to the top of their Europa League group on Thursday after beating Belgian side Anderlecht, are unbeaten in the Premier League since the opening day of the season and sit five points behind Arsenal in fifth place.
The story of their season has been the rise of midfielder Dele Alli, with the 19-year-old cementing his spot in the center of midfield after a host of exceptional performances since his January move to North London.
Harry Kane, the club’s outstanding player of last season, rediscovered his goal-scoring touch at the end of October with a hat-trick against newly-promoted Bournemouth, and will be looking for a repeat performance from the last time the two sides met in the league, having bagged both Spurs goals in a 2-1 win at White Hart Lane.
The two clubs’ last encounter came in the League Cup in September, with the Gunners disposing of Tottenham in their own back yard courtesy of two goals from Mathieu Flamini. The Frenchman is currently part of a lengthening injury list at the club alongside the likes of Bellerín, who will be a big loss, but Arsene Wenger hopes defender Laurent Koscielny will return to the fold, having missed the Bayern loss on Wednesday.