Igor Tudor makes debut in crucial north London derby

By Ian King

Spurs and Arsenal are currently going through very different psychodramas

The soap opera that is Tottenham Hotspur ended its final episode on a cliffhanger; a new head coach who person expected a short break before a derby against local rivals who are looking frayed in their quest for a first league title in more than two decades. Welcome, Igor ‘The Fireman’ Tudor. This is what we call a “baptism of fire”. Spurs remain winless in any competition except the Champions League in 2026.

Arsenal’s last outing against Wolves also felt like it was following some sort of script, although any scenario involving a league leader teetering towards a team adrift at the bottom of the table, rushing to a two-goal lead, throwing it away thanks to a – frankly hilarious – a defensive confusion in stoppage time and then a complete loss of the lead at the final whistle would probably be dismissed by most producers as being a little too unbelievable.

Arsenal have had the upper hand in previous meetings between these two

Historically, in recent meetings and in their previous match this season, Arsenal clearly have the upper hand in this meeting. They won their first meeting in 1896 – although it was not a local derby then – making it 90 wins to Spurs’ 67 in the intervening 130 years, winning six of the two teams’ last seven meetings and brushing them aside by a comfortable 4-1 margin at the Emirates Stadium earlier this season. They even won the league at White Hart Lane twice, in 1971 and 2004.

This match could be an opportunity for two creative players with a small point to prove

It was reported last week that although Spurs had given their players five days off, Xavi Simons opted not to take it and continued training anyway. Amid all the gloom that has surrounded the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium since the new year, Simons has quietly put together a series of decent performances and has the creativity to be able to unlock the Arsenal defense.

The fact that Spurs are expected to try a three-man defense for this match could provide Arsenal with attacking opportunities, which could leave room for Bukayo Saka, who was one of the few Arsenal players to make a decent shift at Wolves, even if he had to be taken off at once. Moving him centrally has seemed to work for Mikel Arteta, and it can hardly be said that there won’t be opportunities to potentially exploit.

Spurs’ injury list remains as long as ever, but Arsenal’s concerns are not as serious as expected.

WIlson Odobert injured his ACL and is now out for the season for the Spurs, joining Destiny Udogie, Pedro Porro, Kevin Danso, Lucas Bergvall, Rodrigo Bentancur, Ben Davies, Richarlison James Maddison, Mohammed Kudus and Dejan Kulusevski in a treatment room that will likely be subject to an expansion at the end of the season.

Richarlison has been spotted training this week, but there is no indication he will be ready to start this match, so expect to see Randal Kolo Muani supporting Dominic Solanke up front. Cristian Romero is, as he tends to be a little too often, suspended. Tudor prefers three backs, so João Palhinha could join Radu Drăgușin and Micky Van De Van at the back.

For Arsenal, Bukayo Saka limped off against Wolves but should feel good for this match, and there is a good chance that Martin Ødegaard and Kai Havertz will also return from injury. Mikel Merino is likely out for the rest of the season, while Max Dowman is expected to return towards the end of the month, but won’t be ready for this game.

For both teams, it’s a best-case and worst-case game.

The North London Derby could have been renamed “Oh, Do We To have At?” Derby in recent years for Spurs, and the ease with which Arsenal brushed them aside earlier this season is an obvious concern over their prospects for this game.

But much has been made of Igor Tudor’s ability to quickly turn around a team’s fortunes. So there is a version of this scenario in which the new manager carves out a small place in the club’s history by getting a result from this match. Who will be present at this match? Will Doctor Tottenham be on call, or has that 999 call to emergency paramedic Tudor already triaged them effectively?

And Arsenal are faltering. They have won just two of their last seven games and their lead at the top of the Premier League table has been reduced. With Manchester City playing on Saturday night, it could be as little as two points by the time you read this.

On top of that, their performance at Wolves – a team already essentially, if not mathematically, relegated – only added credence to the theory that they might not have the mental toughness to be able to hold on to top spot until the end of this season.

So this is a match with a full spectrum of potential outcomes. If Igor Tudor waved a magic wand and opted for a formation that works for them while Arsenal put in a performance like they did at Molineux this week, Spurs could take something from this game and make a dent in their bitter rivals’ title ambitions. But if one of these results doesn’t happen, we would realistically expect Arsenal to do to Spurs again what they did earlier this season.

The answer to this question probably lies somewhere in between. Ultimately, this is top spot in the table for a team battling relegation, and that reality makes it impossible to predict much beyond a win for the title contenders. I’ll go 1-0 against Arsenal, but this definitely looks like a game with a lot of potential outcomes.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

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