On Sky
Gooners all over the world could be celebrating St Totteringham’s day if Arsenal avoid defeat in tomorrow’s North London Derby.
If you believe in omens then you’ll be pleased to hear taht they are good for Arsenal. The Gunners are starting to find some form again after a dreadful couple of weeks inwhich they lost 3 consecutive league games. Tottenham on the other hand, are starting to fall out of their fantastic vein of form that saw them scoring goals for fun only a few weeks a go. Infact, our little neighbours have won only 1 of their last 6 games!
Victory is equally important for both teams. If Arsenal win, not only are they gaurenteed a Champions League place next season but they will move back upto third, even if it is only till Liverpool play again.
If Tottenahm win they’ll move upto 7th – the final European place in the League. They will also delay the inevitable St Totts’ day!
For all those Gooners making the risky journy, enjoy the game, out sing the tiny totts in their own yard and most importantly, keep safe!
Vital Quotes:
Tottenham’s Teemu Tainio: ‘Winning would mean everything. We’ve had some disappointments this season, especially because we didn’t manage to get to a cup final, including against Arsenal.
‘We’ve been close so many times and this time we have to make sure it’s not just close, but that it’s done.
‘It’s good we’ve had a full week’s preparation before Arsenal, everyone knows how important this game is, we need the points and it’s a must-win game for us.’
Arsene Wenger praised his players spirit, while maintaining that it’s important they finish the season as well as possivle: ‘We have just won two games and we want to keep winning until the end of the season.
‘It’s important to finish well and to start again next season with the squad we have.
‘We have gone through a little bit of a difficult period but the players have a fantastic spirit and fantastic quality and I follow what I deeply feel which is that they will be up for it from the first game next season.’
Spurs Team News:
Skipper Ledley King is back along with Tom ‘Give me more pie’ Huddlestone.
Lee Young-Pyo, Anthony Gardner and Benoit Assou-Ekotto are all out, Robbie Keane and Paul Stalteri are doubts.
Player to watch: Ledley King
If Spurs are to have any, and I mean ANY chance, this man will be key for them. They’ve leaked goals left, right and centre without him this season. He also has 2 goals in the last two league meetings between the two teams at WHL.
Arsenal Team News:
Arsenal are without long-term suffers Thierry Henry, Robin Van Persie and Theo walcott.
The fantastic news is that Cesc Fabregas, Freddie Ljungberg and Abou Diaby are all in the squad for tomorrow.
Player to watch: Tomas Rosicky
Tommy has found slipped his shooting boots on and found some fantastic form of late. He has 2 goals in his last 2 games, and I’m sure he’ll be keen to add to that on Saturday.
His powerful right foot could prove to be something of a problem for England’s No.1 (snigger) Paul Robinson, if Tommy can let rip from long range then Fatty could be caught out…again.
Ref Watch:
Mike Dean has been tasked with keeping the peace for this years Derby at WHL. He’s one of the less forgiving Ref’s in England.
He has refereed 22 matches this season, dishing out 5 red cards and 85 yellow cards, an average of just over 4 cards a game.
Match Prediction:
I’m going for a 2-2 draw. Everyone is going to be up for this, Berbatov to grab a brace for Spurs, Rosicky and Adebayor for Arsenal.