Spurs don’t need to set up like they’re playing a big club v Arsenal

One of the headline fixtures in the Premier League this Sunday sees Tottenham and Arsenal lock horns in the North London Derby.

Speaking on the latest edition of the ‘Big Weekend on YouTube‘, Mark Smith and Sarah Winterburn discussed whether Arsenal stand any chance of toppling Jose Mourinho’s Spurs side.

Winty said: “Every week of every season there has to be a crisis club and Arteta has stepped straight into that gap to put Arsenal there. It was a really, really poor performance and poor result against Wolves. He changed the system, he got rid of the three at the back, he put Saka further up the pitch, which is all the things the fans said they wanted and it still didn’t work. It absolutely still didn’t work.

“There’s some argument that the Spurs game is probably what they need because in the same way that years ago we would say ‘form goes out of the window’ and the underdog can win this type of derby, it’s now switched that Arsenal are the underdog in this game.

“They may well pull something out of the bag because this is a derby and obviously they are playing Spurs who, although they shed some of the reputation they had, surely there’s still an element of ‘Spursiness’ there somewhere. They could cock this up, couldn’t they?

“I think under Jose Mourinho that flattening of the playing field that a derby brings, probably goes out of the window. We saw him do a job on Chelsea last week. This time they’ll be more adventurous because they can afford to be more adventurous – Arsenal aren’t as good as Chelsea.”

The pair also discussed what strategy Jose Mourinho’s Spurs should take against this out of form Arsenal side. Sarah believes they should go straight after them, saying: “I think they absolutely should enter this game to blow Arsenal away. I think that’s the way they should approach this.

“It’s whether Jose Mourinho dares to do that, because they’re in a rich run of form doing precisely the opposite against the big clubs. But Arsenal are no longer a big club. Play them like they’re 14th because they are 14th.”

Watch the full episode of the latest Big Weekend show on YouTube or below.