Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur Betting Tips

The first north London derby of the season takes place on Sunday. With both teams going relatively well in the Premier League so far this season, there is more than local pride at stake.

Arsenal are on an excellent run at the moment and are undefeated in all competitions since their opening day loss against Liverpool. This puts the Gunners second in the League standings, only behind Manchester City on goal difference.

Additionally, they are guaranteed a place in the last 16 of the Champions League and a win against Paris Saint-Germain, who are struggling in Ligue 1, should seal first place in Group A and seed them for the knockout draw. Manager Arsene Wenger will certainly be pleased with that after unseeded draws in recent seasons.

Having said that, this is typical Arsenal. They start the season well and then crash and burn in February when all the competitions get too much for them. Of course this holds no relevance going into Sunday’s match but just something to bear in mind.

Oddly for Wenger’s side, the Gunners recent away form is actually better than their home form. On the road, Arsenal have won their last four matches whilst their 0-0 draw against Middlesbrough in their last home fixture tainted their good form at the Emirates since that Liverpool defeat.

However, special praise must go to Arsenal for their home victories. They beat the now in-form Southampton before thrashing title contenders Chelsea 3-0 and then showed great character to hold on to victory against Swansea – a win that would have slipped through their fingers a couple of seasons ago.

The Gunners are of course known for their very attacking style of play, but it is worth noting that they have tightened up defensively this season with just 10 goals conceded in 10 games. Whilst this may sound like quite a few goals, you have to remember this is Arsenal who have a recent history of shambolic defending.

In my last Spurs tip I said that, despite six matches since a win in any competition, they are not in a crisis and I would stick by that. Tottenham are still picking up points here and there and are still one of only two unbeaten teams in the entire Football League pyramid – the other one being League Two’s Carlisle United.

This lack of victories can arguably be put down to one thing – Harry Kane’s injury. Manager Mauricio Pochettino signed Vincent Janssen from Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in the summer to compete for the head striking role at Spurs. Unfortunately, Janssen is still struggling to adapt to the pace of the Premier League and looks rather low on confidence. Having said that, his goal last weekend against Leicester City, albeit a penalty, may be the catalyst for him to go on and start banging them in. However, with England international Kane expected to return to the squad to face Arsenal, Janssen may find himself back on the bench.

Last season, Tottenham were incredibly exciting to watch thanks to their rather open and attacking style of play. A lot of this enjoyable football came from the wings and the Spurs fullbacks bombing forward, however, we are yet to see that this season with play very much congested in the middle. Whilst Harry Kane is an obvious blow, perhaps Pochettino has a tactical problem.

Still, at least Spurs have their previously-mentioned defence to keep them in games. Although, with key central defender Toby Alderweireld injured for this derby match against Arsenal, who knows how Spurs will handle Arsenal’s forward-line. Former Sporting Lisbon man Eric Dier has moved from his holding midfield role into centre-half in the last couple of matches, but clearly this has not worked out as planned as Spurs have not kept a clean sheet in Alderweireld’s absence.

Another gloomy statistic for Tottenham fans has been their recent record at the Emirates Stadium. Spurs last win away at Arsenal came back in November 2010, whilst before then they had a barren streak of no wins at Arsenal since May 1993, which of course was back in the Highbury days. I am not sure that record will improve here.

Home side Arsenal are the clear favourites for this game with most bookmakers only offering odd-against on the hosts. However, William Hill are offering Evens on an Arsenal win and it’s a price worth snapping up.

The booking points market is usually another good option to look at in derbies. As explained on previous derby tips, 10 points are given for a yellow card, 25 for a red card and 35 for two yellows.

All three options for booking points will land punters a profit on this occasion, but the bet to go with is ‘Over 65 Booking Points’ at 21/10.

Neither Arsenal or Tottenham have a particularly bad disciplinary record this season, but the north London derby obviously means that is out the window. Looking back at the last five Premier League matches between these two, all but one of them have had a total of 80 booking points or more and i’m expecting a similar outcome here.

See more Premier League tips here.