Gabriel Martinelli, Fabio Vieira, and David Raya are part of Arsenal’s ideal lineup to take on Tottenham in the North London Derby.
Following the start of their season and their re-entry into the UEFA Champions League, Arsenal enters the North London Derby with a lot of optimism. The Gunners will no doubt have a lot of confidence and momentum after their 4-0 victory over PSV.
The announcement of captain Martin Odegaard’s new contract has been added to this. Despite having been decided upon for some time, the announcement’s timing is guaranteed to earn the Norwegian quite the acclaim on Sunday, just in time for Tottenham to arrive.
Mikel Arteta must be certain that his starting lineup for the game is perfect. There has been considerable criticism of his lineup choices this season, particularly this week when he started David Raya against both Everton and PSV in addition to Kai Havertz’s perseverance in playing in the majority of games despite his difficulties.
In the net for the derby should be Raya however. If the manager has made his decision on a new number one it is of course because he has faith in the Spaniard being the man to take his side toward the title more so than that of Ramsdale and in games like this that is key.
In defence, things remain resolute after what has been back-to-back clean sheets. Oleksandr Zinchenko got a needed rest when brought off early against PSV whilst Ben White will be tasked with keeping Son Heung-min or Manor Solomon quiet with William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes a sturdy duo as always.
Into midfield and this is where there is yet another pick to be made. With the obvious choices of Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard, do we go with Fabio Vieira or Kai Havertz?
In the derby, I think you must choose the player who is in the best form and in this case it is certainly Fabio Vieira. Another good display against Everton and he looked bright when he came on for Bukayo Saka in midweek too.
Havertz will get his time and should Arsenal need to see out a result on Sunday, he is a great asset to bring off the bench. Vieira though, in this case, is the preferred choice.
In a dream scenario, which this is designed to be, Gabriel Martinelli would indeed have recovered from the hamstring issue he picked up at Goodison Park. The Brazilian was not ruled out by Arteta but he wasn’t spotted at training on Friday and in his stead, the obvious pick would be Leandro Trossard who has two goals in two games.
Gabriel Jesus should make his first Premier League start after another goal after returning from a knee injury; he scored in this fixture last year and will be looking for another. Bukayo Saka got back to his own scoring form against PSV and loves a goal in the derby himself so let’s keep fingers crossed for another big North London Derby scoreline in favour of the Gunners.
Arsenal Dream XI vs Tottenham: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Rice, Vieira, Odegaard, Saka, Jesus, Martinelli.
