Arsene Wenger’s Gunners travel to their North London neighbors Tottenham Hostspur for the Saturday lunchtime kick off. Wenger’s men are on the back of 5 consecutive wins including a 2-0 win at Manchester City in their last away Premier League match. Arsenal emphatically saw off Aston Villa 5-0 last Sunday to set up their trip to White Hart Lane whilst Spurs were triumphant  at the Hawthans 3-0. Spurs have won 3 of their last four Premier League matches with their last defeat coming at the hands of Crystal Palace in Alan Pardew’s debut game at Selhurst.

Arsenal had been criticized in the first half of the season about their vulnerability at the back after defeats at Stoke, Swansea and Southampton. Wenger set his stall out after 2 terrible goals at St Marys and his side have only conceded 2 in 5 games with four clean sheets to boot. Arsenal’s defence will need to wear of 21 year old Harry Kane who netted his 20th goal of the season at West Brom last week. As a product from the Spurs youth system and born in Walthamstone, he will be looking to make an impression on the NLD. Christian Erickson will be also be a pivotal player for Spurs with his impressive performances throughout the season and match winning contributions, he could be the match winner on Saturday.

Both Arsenal and Tottenham have won 2, drew 2 and lost 2 against the top 6 but both teams will be looking to get one over on their bitter rivals. Pochettino’s men have a tough run of fixtures after hosting Arsenal but will be hoping to take some form into a key month for the North London Club. An away trip to Anfield follows before West Ham at home sandwiched in between the last 32 leg with Fiorentina home and away before facing Chelsea in the final of the League Cup. The former Southampton manager will be hoping all of his players will put in performances through this key time to help Erickson and Kane.

Arsenal will be looking for a win so that they can push on with Leicester and Palace to follow in the league this month alongside Middesborough in the F.A. cup and Monaco in the Champions League. Danny Welbeck looks set to return for the Gunners but a big miss is Alexis Sanchez who misses out with a hamstring injury. Theo Walcott and Oliver Giroud look set to start with Hector Bellerin to continue at right back after impressing in recent performances. Arsenal did however did win last week which hushed some rumours that they can’t play without Sanchez but he has been involved in 19 of their 44 league goals this season.

Tottenham have won 3 of the last 9 Premier league meetings between the two sides with their last victory coming in 2013 where they won 2-1 with goals from Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon. Arsenal came out on top in last years fixture 1-0 with a Tomas Rosicky strike settling the game.  With a stalemate in the first fixture of the season, 1-1 at the Emirates, it will be a tight game between the two sides with no love lost.

Home vs Away form

Tottenham Home: P12 W6 D2 L4 F18 A14 20 points

Arsenal Away: P12 W5 D3 L4 F18 A15 18 Points

January Form – recent game first

Tottenham: WDLWWWLDW

Arsenal: WWWWWL

Prediction: A close fought fixture with Tottenham just edging the game with the odd goal. Tottenham 2-1 Arsenal