Sunday\u2019s North London meeting has been shaped by absences and availability. Mikel Arteta\u2019s Gunners sit top of the table despite a host of attacking injuries, while Thomas Frank is managing the division\u2019s worst injury record. With depth across both squads, a combined eleven can still be assembled from the players available.<\/p>\n
GK: David Raya is chosen ahead of Guglielmo Vicario. Spurs supporters remain divided on Vicario, who has his flaws, but is statistically one of the Premier League\u2019s shot-stoppers. Spurs missed out on David Raya back in 2023 before pivoting to Vicario. The Spaniard has since claimed back-to-back Golden Gloves. Raya leads the league with seven clean sheets in 11 games.<\/p>\n
RB: Jurri\u00ebn Timber has been a model of consistency down Arsenal\u2019s right for the past two seasons. His level since returning from a long-term knee injury at the end of his debut season in 2024 has been remarkable, and he has avoided the muscle injuries that can follow an ACL tear.<\/p>\n
CBs: William Saliba and Cristian Romero provide balance. Saliba\u2019s emergence coincides with Arsenal\u2019s rise from top-four hopefuls to perennial title challengers; his recovery speed has given Arteta the confidence to push the defensive line higher. Saliba was regarded as one of Europe\u2019s brightest centre back prospects at St. Etienne and is now among the continent\u2019s best. Romero represents Spurs with the leadership and consistent performances that have been critical to their success. He concluded last season with a man of the match performance in the Europa League final.<\/p>\n
LB: Riccardo Calafiori\u2019s continuity this season earns him the left-back berth ahead of Destiny Udogie, who has had a couple of fitness issues. Calafiori endured an injury-hit debut year but has snatched his place back from Myles Lewis-Skelly and offers inventive ball progression in the final third.<\/p>\n
Midfield trio: Mart\u00edn Zubimendi, Jo\u00e3o Palhinha and Declan Rice. Arsenal \u201cstruck gold\u201d with Zubimendi after moving on from Jorginho and Thomas Partey; he is the brains of Arsenal\u2019s engine room. Palhinha, on loan, has supplied the ball-winning attributes Spurs lacked and has been a surprising contributor in the final third. Declan Rice\u2019s all-encompassing presence, coverage of the pitch and set-piece accuracy make him indispensable.<\/p>\n
Front three: Bukayo Saka, Mikel Merino and Mohammed Kudus. Saka scored his third open-play goal of the season against Sunderland before the November break and has rediscovered strong form since last season\u2019s hamstring recovery. Mikel Merino offers efficiency as a converted midfielder up top, brilliant in the air and recently prolific with a brace against Slavia Prague in the Champions League. Mohammed Kudus, who trained in the build-up to the derby, brings press-resistance and strength in possession that can unlock difficult situations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A combined Arsenal-Tottenham XI built around form and availability ahead of a North London derby…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,187],"tags":[1073,826,750],"class_list":["post-4641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-tottenham-hotspur","tag-acl-injury","tag-bukayo-saka","tag-cristian-romero"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}