PL | Arsenal vs Tottenham | Sunday, 16:30 BST | Sky Sports

[Sniper Mik]

If he goes back to 4231/433 I think he might start Mkhitaryan actually, especially if he wants to press them which they've been suspect against. I would say Reiss would be an option on the left but his chances of starting another PL game soon don't look good after what Emery said about him in the presser last week.

That'd mean he'd have to drop 2 of Guendouzi, Willock and Ceballos. Would be interesting. I don't think you can keep Torreira out of the starting XI. His bite in the 1st 10 minutes set the tone for the rest of the match last season. We need that again.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

If Emery starts Mkhitaryan in this then I'm full on Emery out.

 

[A_G]

Aurier is available for a transfer according to this, so Dier or Moussa Sissoko could play RB on Sunday

 

[razörist]

Danny Mills has never got over this....

I always love how he just stands there wishing he was dead

 

[Hleb's Sirush]

Interesting article in the Telegraph on just how many problem Sp**s have had this year:

Spoiler

It might be a new season, but Tottenham's problems, so plain to see in their woeful form earlier this year, remain.

Having begun this campaign with an unconvincing comeback win at home to newly-promoted Aston Villa, a scarcely believable and completely undeserved point at the Etihad and the futures of a bunch of their key players up in the air, as disjointed a performance as the one they cobbled together in losing to Newcastle on Sunday should not be all that surprising.

It means Sp**s have now won just seven and lost 11 of their last 21 competitive games. Over the last 15 rounds of Premier League games, of the ever-present sides only Brighton and Watford have earned fewer points than Tottenham's 15. One point per game is relegation form. Sp**s have not performed anything like a title challenger - or even a top four side - over the course of an entire 90 minutes since the 3-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in February. In the league, they arguably haven't done so this year.

And while these were concerns over the summer, they were brushed aside by the excitement over the Champions League final, while fans could be reassured that problems would be remedied with new signings. But now manager Mauricio Pochettino has to face up to ongoing issues in a new season without the chance to make any new signings.

Pochettino has made clear his feelings about the British transfer window closing two weeks before the rest of Europe, with Christian Eriksen left unsure as to where he will be playing in a week's time.

So where to Tottenham's problems lie, and what can Pochettino do to try and solve them?

Central defence
It really is some achievement to have three quality centre-backs, including two international team-mates that complement and understand each other perfectly, and yet still allow that position to become a total mess.

Jan Vertonghen, who was mysteriously sporting a black eye on the bench on Sunday, has been one of Tottenham's most reliable and consistent players in the Pochettino era, but has fallen out of favour of late and it isn't entirely clear why.
His contract expires at the end of the season and the assumption is that, at 32, he wants a longer contract extension than Sp**s are willing to offer. He is yet to play a minute of football this season. Sp**s are yet to keep a clean sheet and could easily have conceded far more than two at Manchester City.

Toby Alderweireld, who has also spent a while out of Pochettino's team because of his own contract dispute, is now back in favour, but he too could leave on a free transfer at the end of the season.

Those two have been partners for club and country for years and make up Tottenham's best central defensive combination. Davinson Sanchez is a capable deputy for Alderweireld, but the combination of those two right-footers is just so unconvincing - as they showed on Sunday, with Sanchez playing Joelinton onside for the only goal of the game. Sp**s fans and Pochettino might reasonably wonder whether that goal would have happened had Vertonghen - far more comfortable on the left side of central defence - been on the pitch.

Sanchez, 23, is the future and he might yet learn how to play Vertonghen's role on the left, but right now Sp**s need a level of security at the back that the Sanchez-Alderweireld combination does not provide.

Longer term, Daniel Levy simply has to soften his stance on contracts for older players. Losing one of Alderweireld or Vertonghen for free at the end of the season would be a remarkable thing for Levy to allow. Losing both is unthinkable. Vertonghen, so loyal and professional for seven years in north London, surely deserves another couple of years, particularly given there is no reason he couldn't still be playing at the top level at 34.

Right-back
Pochettino is finally doing what so many fans have been asking for and giving Kyle Walker-Peters a run in the first team. But something still doesn't quite feel right.

Walker-Peters has been 'Tottenham's next right-back' for three or four years now. The frustrating thing is he still doesn't seem totally ready to be first-choice right-back at a Champions League contender.

Rather than being loaned out for first-team experience, Walker-Peters has spent three years on the periphery of Tottenham's squad, unable to get a look in even in the cups, and all of a sudden he is expected to be ready to take over from Kieran Trippier this season.

Why on earth he didn't spend last season on loan at another Premier League club instead of sitting on the Sp**s bench really is hard to grasp. Now, he is being made to learn on the job on the right side of a defence that has looked worryingly shaky.

The problem is that by selling Trippier and seemingly giving up on Serge Aurier, Pochettino has backed himself into a corner which leaves the relatively untested Walker-Peters and Juan Foyth as his only two right-backs. They will therefore have to learn on the job it is difficult to see that not hindering Tottenham's season in some way.

Central midfield
Moussa Sissoko had a fantastic season last year and without him Sp**s would not have finished in the top four or made the Champions League final.

But he was performing way, way above the level he usually plays at and that was never going to be sustainable over another campaign. He is also never going to be the player to make Tottenham more creative against teams like Newcastle that sit deep.

On Sunday he was - as usual - too safe in possession when Sp**s needed adventure, completing 98 per cent of his passes, while attacks would often slow down with him as he inevitably took too many touches to get the ball under control.

Even if he has quickly formed a close connection with new signing Tanguy Ndombele, Sissoko is a dispensable member of Tottenham's first team and a really obvious position for improvement. Sissoko can be a useful player when games are slightly more open and he has more space to run into on the counter, but quite what role he was supposed to be playing against Newcastle was impossible to work out. Perhaps his late move to right-back - after Walker-Peters went off - could have legs beyond that match.

The midfield needs to be based around Ndombele, while Dele Alli's return from injury cannot come soon enough. That will, at least, be a start.

Attacking midfield
The basis for Pochettino's frustrations over the transfer window. Essentially he doesn't know how heavily to lean on Eriksen, who is undoubtedly still Tottenham's most important player.

Were it Eriksen's decision alone he would leave for Spain in the next week rather than stick around for another season and go for free next summer. If Levy had his way, Eriksen would be sold for a large fee, but there may be no club will be willing to match his valuation.

Pochettino would probably be happy whether or not Eriksen stays - he just wants to know what his squad will be come the end of the transfer window for European clubs.

The group is still unsettled,” he said after the Newcastle defeat. “We need to find solutions. We have one week more to wait and see what happens in the last days (of the transfer window). I think this is my sixth season and the most unsettled group we are working with.”

But there is no point in Pochettino moaning about a situation he cannot change. While Eriksen is around - and can make as much difference to the team as he did in the victory over Aston Villa - he should be used as he was last season. If he plays well, his value will go up or Sp**s can keep using him for another season. If he plays badly, someone else can come in. Leaving him on the bench makes little sense.

Lack of a plan b
Late on against Newcastle, Tottenham lacked ideas and just didn't look like they would get an equaliser.

This has been a problem that stretches back far beyond this season. In the past they become reliant on Eriksen's creativity and long-range shooting, but Pochettino needs to find way to find players like Lamela or new boy Giovani Lo Celso in between the lines against deep defences, while there also needs to be greater focus on slipping overlapping full-backs in for pull-backs - something Manchester City do so well but Sp**s do not.

There remains some talk that Fernando Llorente - now a free agent - could be on his way back to Tottenham after playing a key role from the bench last season. It might not be pretty but it worked to great effect and put simply, Sp**s wouldn't be playing Champions League football this season were it not for Llorente's contribution.

Tottenham's unused substitutes on Sunday were Vertonghen, Eric Dier, Oliver Skipp and Paulo Gazzaniga, while Ben Davies replaced Danny Rose and added nothing. Llorente would have been far more useful.

This is probably why Pochettino didn't want to leave Sp**s for bigger clubs. Look at that narrative. All I see is typical, normal problems clubs have to deal with every now and then. But in this case it is being made to look like Pochettino is dealing with almost unprecedented, extremely difficult situation. So if he finishes just about in the top 4, he would have performed a minor miracle again.

Most of these issues are of their own making anyway. He hasn't got a right back? Actually he has (Aurier), if they decide they don't rate him or want to sell him then you really can't complain about it.

Issues with creativity? Why bench Eriksen then, if he is going to come off the bench, I don't see why he can't start.

Issues in central defence? Again if you decide to make a stand, how can it be described as a problem? It wouldn't be a problem if you didnt create that situation yourself.

 

[razörist]

Interesting article in the Telegraph on just how many problem Sp**s have had this year:

Spoiler

It might be a new season, but Tottenham's problems, so plain to see in their woeful form earlier this year, remain.

Having begun this campaign with an unconvincing comeback win at home to newly-promoted Aston Villa, a scarcely believable and completely undeserved point at the Etihad and the futures of a bunch of their key players up in the air, as disjointed a performance as the one they cobbled together in losing to Newcastle on Sunday should not be all that surprising.

It means Sp**s have now won just seven and lost 11 of their last 21 competitive games. Over the last 15 rounds of Premier League games, of the ever-present sides only Brighton and Watford have earned fewer points than Tottenham's 15. One point per game is relegation form. Sp**s have not performed anything like a title challenger - or even a top four side - over the course of an entire 90 minutes since the 3-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in February. In the league, they arguably haven't done so this year.

And while these were concerns over the summer, they were brushed aside by the excitement over the Champions League final, while fans could be reassured that problems would be remedied with new signings. But now manager Mauricio Pochettino has to face up to ongoing issues in a new season without the chance to make any new signings.

Pochettino has made clear his feelings about the British transfer window closing two weeks before the rest of Europe, with Christian Eriksen left unsure as to where he will be playing in a week's time.

So where to Tottenham's problems lie, and what can Pochettino do to try and solve them?

Central defence
It really is some achievement to have three quality centre-backs, including two international team-mates that complement and understand each other perfectly, and yet still allow that position to become a total mess.

Jan Vertonghen, who was mysteriously sporting a black eye on the bench on Sunday, has been one of Tottenham's most reliable and consistent players in the Pochettino era, but has fallen out of favour of late and it isn't entirely clear why.
His contract expires at the end of the season and the assumption is that, at 32, he wants a longer contract extension than Sp**s are willing to offer. He is yet to play a minute of football this season. Sp**s are yet to keep a clean sheet and could easily have conceded far more than two at Manchester City.

Toby Alderweireld, who has also spent a while out of Pochettino's team because of his own contract dispute, is now back in favour, but he too could leave on a free transfer at the end of the season.

Those two have been partners for club and country for years and make up Tottenham's best central defensive combination. Davinson Sanchez is a capable deputy for Alderweireld, but the combination of those two right-footers is just so unconvincing - as they showed on Sunday, with Sanchez playing Joelinton onside for the only goal of the game. Sp**s fans and Pochettino might reasonably wonder whether that goal would have happened had Vertonghen - far more comfortable on the left side of central defence - been on the pitch.

Sanchez, 23, is the future and he might yet learn how to play Vertonghen's role on the left, but right now Sp**s need a level of security at the back that the Sanchez-Alderweireld combination does not provide.

Longer term, Daniel Levy simply has to soften his stance on contracts for older players. Losing one of Alderweireld or Vertonghen for free at the end of the season would be a remarkable thing for Levy to allow. Losing both is unthinkable. Vertonghen, so loyal and professional for seven years in north London, surely deserves another couple of years, particularly given there is no reason he couldn't still be playing at the top level at 34.

Right-back
Pochettino is finally doing what so many fans have been asking for and giving Kyle Walker-Peters a run in the first team. But something still doesn't quite feel right.

Walker-Peters has been 'Tottenham's next right-back' for three or four years now. The frustrating thing is he still doesn't seem totally ready to be first-choice right-back at a Champions League contender.

Rather than being loaned out for first-team experience, Walker-Peters has spent three years on the periphery of Tottenham's squad, unable to get a look in even in the cups, and all of a sudden he is expected to be ready to take over from Kieran Trippier this season.

Why on earth he didn't spend last season on loan at another Premier League club instead of sitting on the Sp**s bench really is hard to grasp. Now, he is being made to learn on the job on the right side of a defence that has looked worryingly shaky.

The problem is that by selling Trippier and seemingly giving up on Serge Aurier, Pochettino has backed himself into a corner which leaves the relatively untested Walker-Peters and Juan Foyth as his only two right-backs. They will therefore have to learn on the job it is difficult to see that not hindering Tottenham's season in some way.

Central midfield
Moussa Sissoko had a fantastic season last year and without him Sp**s would not have finished in the top four or made the Champions League final.

But he was performing way, way above the level he usually plays at and that was never going to be sustainable over another campaign. He is also never going to be the player to make Tottenham more creative against teams like Newcastle that sit deep.

On Sunday he was - as usual - too safe in possession when Sp**s needed adventure, completing 98 per cent of his passes, while attacks would often slow down with him as he inevitably took too many touches to get the ball under control.

Even if he has quickly formed a close connection with new signing Tanguy Ndombele, Sissoko is a dispensable member of Tottenham's first team and a really obvious position for improvement. Sissoko can be a useful player when games are slightly more open and he has more space to run into on the counter, but quite what role he was supposed to be playing against Newcastle was impossible to work out. Perhaps his late move to right-back - after Walker-Peters went off - could have legs beyond that match.

The midfield needs to be based around Ndombele, while Dele Alli's return from injury cannot come soon enough. That will, at least, be a start.

Attacking midfield
The basis for Pochettino's frustrations over the transfer window. Essentially he doesn't know how heavily to lean on Eriksen, who is undoubtedly still Tottenham's most important player.

Were it Eriksen's decision alone he would leave for Spain in the next week rather than stick around for another season and go for free next summer. If Levy had his way, Eriksen would be sold for a large fee, but there may be no club will be willing to match his valuation.

Pochettino would probably be happy whether or not Eriksen stays - he just wants to know what his squad will be come the end of the transfer window for European clubs.

The group is still unsettled,” he said after the Newcastle defeat. “We need to find solutions. We have one week more to wait and see what happens in the last days (of the transfer window). I think this is my sixth season and the most unsettled group we are working with.”

But there is no point in Pochettino moaning about a situation he cannot change. While Eriksen is around - and can make as much difference to the team as he did in the victory over Aston Villa - he should be used as he was last season. If he plays well, his value will go up or Sp**s can keep using him for another season. If he plays badly, someone else can come in. Leaving him on the bench makes little sense.

Lack of a plan b
Late on against Newcastle, Tottenham lacked ideas and just didn't look like they would get an equaliser.

This has been a problem that stretches back far beyond this season. In the past they become reliant on Eriksen's creativity and long-range shooting, but Pochettino needs to find way to find players like Lamela or new boy Giovani Lo Celso in between the lines against deep defences, while there also needs to be greater focus on slipping overlapping full-backs in for pull-backs - something Manchester City do so well but Sp**s do not.

There remains some talk that Fernando Llorente - now a free agent - could be on his way back to Tottenham after playing a key role from the bench last season. It might not be pretty but it worked to great effect and put simply, Sp**s wouldn't be playing Champions League football this season were it not for Llorente's contribution.

Tottenham's unused substitutes on Sunday were Vertonghen, Eric Dier, Oliver Skipp and Paulo Gazzaniga, while Ben Davies replaced Danny Rose and added nothing. Llorente would have been far more useful.

Vertonghen is probably coming back to Ajax next year, Eriksen will never sign a new contract knowing how difficult Levy is. Think he’ll leave this window. Alderweireld wants big money, and he will probably settle for a signing fee next year, I can see United coming for him when they fire Ole at the end of the season.

 

[Hleb's Sirush]

Vertonghen is probably coming back to Ajax next year, Eriksen will never sign a new contract knowing how difficult Levy is. Think he’ll leave this window. Alderweireld wants big money, and he will probably settle for a signing fee next year, I can see United coming for him when they fire Ole at the end of the season.

It is strange to see Sp**s losing players on free, or atleast entering their last year of contract. In my opinion this will have the biggest impact on them. In the last few years I can only remember Kyle walker being sold/left as an important player for them. Which meant that they probably had the most stable squad in the PL. It is really hard to replace quality players.

 

[razörist]

It is strange to see Sp**s losing players on free, ot atleast entering their last year of contract. In my opinion this will have the biggest impact on them. In the last few years I can only remember Kyle walker being sold/left as an important player for them. Which meant that they probably had the most stable squad in the PL. It is really hard to replace quality players.

They are underpaying them, steady top 4 and CL finalist yet their wages are the lowest of the top 6. Nowadays players want their worth, combine that with how difficult they let their players go and you get this clusterfuck. Long may it continue.

 

[Makingtrax]

Here we go.

Love it when the pundits write off our squad. Reminds me of the time Daily Mail’s Adam Crafton said not a single Arsenal player would get in the Sp**s squad just before we stuffed them.

 

[GoonerJeeves]

Merson backing us to win 4-1. We're ****ed now...

 

[kofigunner]

If we go big with a front 3 of Auba, Laca and Pepe, we're winning this. Their defence doesn’t look very sharp at the moment, not that ours is that great either, so the better attacking side wins.

 

[kraphtous]

Haven’t been this confident in a London Derby since Chelsea EL final. Hopefully this time the confidence is paid off. We’ll smash ‘em.

 

[Firetruck]

Anyone know if Ndombele is playing or not?

 

[kraphtous]

Anyone know if Ndombele is playing or not?

Still unknown, we'll hear more news tomorrow likely.

Dele Alli will return for this game, for what it's worth.

 

[Firetruck]

Still unknown, we'll hear more news tomorrow likely.

Dele Alli will return for this game, for what it's worth.

Good to know. A bit worried about Ndombele against our midfield.

 

[Ashybashy86]

Vertonghen is probably coming back to Ajax next year, Eriksen will never sign a new contract knowing how difficult Levy is. Think he’ll leave this window. Alderweireld wants big money, and he will probably settle for a signing fee next year, I can see United coming for him when they fire Ole at the end of the season.

I really hope all 3 players leave on a free. Levy will probably get desperate and try to sell Eriksen to Man United in Jan if he doesn’t leave this window. It doesn’t look like RM want him. What will the media have to say about all that, I wonder?

 

[Ashybashy86]

Merson backing us to win 4-1. We're ****ed now...

I don’t like that at all, but f*** it. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, so he can have this one.

 

[Hleb's Sirush]

I really hope all 3 players leave on a free. Levy will probably get desperate and try to sell Eriksen to Man United in Jan if he doesn’t leave this window. It doesn’t look like RM want him. What will the media have to say about all that, I wonder?

They will probably have to remove the autocorrects they had installed which changed some words into 'astute' 'savvy' 'business acumen' whenever Levy was mentioned.

It is a pleasant surprise. Seeing us losing a few players on a free while it never seemed to happen to them, finally it is nice to see the roles reversed. Not 1 but 3 of their best players too.

 

[Smail]

That'd mean he'd have to drop 2 of Guendouzi, Willock and Ceballos. Would be interesting. I don't think you can keep Torreira out of the starting XI. His bite in the 1st 10 minutes set the tone for the rest of the match last season. We need that again.

I really don't like the constant chopping and changing, Emery should just choose his first eleven and stick by it

 

[JoaoFelix]

He better not start mikharshit