🐓 No Midfield for North London Derby? 🔫 

With injuries and suspensions wreaking havoc on Arsenal's preparations, Spurs have a to take their chance on Sunday

There were some interesting results in the ‘Nations League‘ but let’s not forget that these games are just glorified friendlies —the results don’t actually count towards anything. What does matter is the injuries that big players pick up whilst playing in these friendlies. And this week Arsenal have had a shocker!

With the North London Derby on Sunday, and a sequence of big games coming up, the lego man Mikel Arteta has a job on his hands to stop Arsenal’s season from unravelling.

Besides our NLD preview we’ve also picked out the weekend’s other big games and we take a closer look at Ronaldo’s ridiculous goals record. Miles ahead. We’ve also got our some goat trivia for you to take to the group chat. Let’s get into it.

Today's game plan:

• Don’t Miss This Game 🎯

• This Week’s Shocker 🤬

• Around The World 🌍

• Games to Keep an Eye On 👀

• Goat Trivia 🐐

Tottenham vs Arsenal | Sunday | 14:00 GMT

This North London derby is shaping up to be an interesting one. We all know that Ange Postecoglou loves playing positive attacking football, but Spurs have to go for the win in this one. Not only will Spurs be playing at home in a bouncing atmosphere, but Arsenal’s midfield will be be missing a number of key starters.

Mikel Arteta has some work to do on the training ground to get a decent Arsenal team ready for Sunday afternoon.

Form & Team News

For Spurs, the international break came at the right time. They started the season well and have played better than their opponents in the majority of their games, but they’ve struggled to finish teams off and put games to bed.

That was the case in their opening game against Leicester where they conceded late on to draw a game that they should have won. Then there was a big win 4-nil win against Everton, but they followed that by losing a tight game to Newcastle —a team who many see as a fair comparison to Spurs in the battle for European places.

Ange Postecoglou will be expecting a reaction from his players after the loss to Newcastle. But he should have no problem motivating the players for what is the biggest game of the season for Spurs. Now in his second season, Postecoglou, has drilled this Spurs team on his attacking form of possession-based football. When Tottenham get it right, they play at a fast tempo, high up the pitch with the key partnership being the link up between James Maddison and Heung-min Son.

The positive for Spurs is that they have show strong form at home. They’ve won 7 out of their last 10 home games, with the most recent game at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium being the 4-nil demolition of Everton.

Having missed the game against Newcastle and not been selected for the Dutch national team, Spurs will be hoping that Micky van de Ven will be cleared as fit to play on Sunday. New signing Dominic Solanke is a ‘maybe’ after an ankle injury he picked up in Spurs’ opening game of the season kept him sidelined for the past two weeks. Brazilian striker Richarlison is still sidelined and not expected to return to the squad until the end of September.

We think Ange and Spurs will go for it in this one: Get an early goal, get the fans up and derail Arsenal’s season early on.

GR Tottenham predicted lineup | Viacario, Porro, van de Ven, Romero, Udogie, Sarr, Bissouma, Maddison, Kulusevski, Son, Odobert.

The Gunners had started the season in excellent form showing class and control in back-to-back 2-nil wins over Wolves and Aston Villa. But in their last game before the international break, the 1-1 draw against Brighton really slowed their momentum. Plus, Declan Rice’s sending off and subsequent 1-match suspension has created a real selection problem for Arteta.

With Rice suspended Arsenal’s midfield was already weakened, and then it got worse. In Norway’s match against Austria in the Nations League, Martin Odegaard took a heavy challenge and had to be helped off the pitch. Although we don’t yet know the extent of his ankle, he’s been pictured using crutches so it’s not looking good. Odegaard is essential to Arsenal. With him in the team, Arsenal create more chances, score more goals, and win more games.

Midfield depth is lacking at Arsenal after their new Spanish midfielder, Mikel Merino, fractured his shoulder during his first training session with Arsenal putting him out of action until at October.

Arsenal’s squad has also been rocked in defensive positions as new signing Ricardo Calafiori went off injured in Italy’s win over France. This injury is not thought to be that serious, but remember that Arsenal are still without their other defensive backup Takehiro Tomiyasu.

With experienced midfield options lacking for Arteta, he might be forced to play Kai Havertz in a midfield role. Keep in mind that Havertz has been Arsenal’s main goal scoring threat as Gabriel Jesus is also out with injury.

The major concern for Arteta and Arsenal fans is that they are now entering a tough run of games.

• Sunday: North London derby;

• Thursday: Atalanta in the Champions League;

• Sunday: Manchester City away.

Offft

GR Arsenal predicted lineup | Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber, Jorginho, Partey, Havertz, Saka, Trossard, Sterling

This Week’s Shocker…

Arsenal have had an injury shocker at the start of this season. As well as training ground injuries, multiple players have picked up injuries whilst playing for their countries. The biggest concern is Martin Odegaard who looks to have done some serious damage to his ankle.

As well as missing their captain Odegaard, Arsenal are likely to be without defensive cover too as new signing Ricardo Calafiori had to go off in Italy’s win over France.

Light at the back and no midfield for the North London Derby?

Around the world…

🇵🇹 Ronaldo scores 901st career goal in win over Scotland

After reaching the milestone of 900 career goals in the game against Croatia, Ronaldo scored his 901st in Portugal’s 2-1 win over Scotland. The stats are ridiculous.

🇸🇦 Saudi Clasico venue and kick-off time confirmed 

The match between Al Hilal and Al Ittihad, known as the Saudi Clasico, will take kick-off at 9pm (6pm GMT) on Saturday 21st September. Due to ongoing renovation works to make Al Hilal’s Kingdom Arena, the venue for the Clasico has been conformed as Riyadh’s Faisal bin Fahd Sports City Stadium.

🇮🇹 Italy beat France in Paris for the first time in 70 years 

Luciano Spalletti’s Italy inexperienced team beat France 3-1 to record their first win on French soil in 70 years. Italy had a shocking start after an individual error from Napoli’s Giovanni Di Lorenzo let Barcola in for a 1-on-1 which he finished after just 14 seconds of play. But the Italian recovery was impressive with goals from Dimarco, Fratessi, and Raspadori sealed a well-deserved win.

Games to keep an eye on…

Al Nassr vs Al Ahli | Friday | 19:00 GMT

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr take on Al Ahli on Friday night. Two games into the season, Al Nassr are in 5th 4 points, while Al Ahli sit in 8th on 3 points. Al Ahli will be hoping that Ivan Toney’s arrival will bring the best out of Riyad Mahrez and Roberto Firmino.

Como vs Bologna | Saturday | 14:00 GMT

Five years ago Como were in Serie D, now they’re taking on the best clubs in Italian football. Managed by Arsenal legend Cesc Fabregas, Como are rock bottom of Serie A having lost two and drawn one. This home game against Bologna, who sit in 18th, is a chance for Como to record their first Serie A win.

Marseille vs Nice | Saturday | 16:00 GMT

Marseille have been going through a bit of a renaissance under new manager Roberto de Zerbi. But its hard to tell if its his management and tactics, or just his decision to sign Mason Greenwood that’s making the difference. Greenwood has scored 5 goals in 3 games and will be looking to add to his goal tally against 8th-placed Nice.

Celtic vs Hearts | Saturday | 15:00 GMT

Celtic are cruising the Scottish Premiership: 4 games 4 win, 12 goals scored and zero goals conceded. ‘Champions again’. Meanwhile, Hearts are at the other end of the table on 1 point with 2 goals scored and 7 conceded.

GOAT Trivia…

Say congrats to…

Dejan Stankovic, the Serbia and Inter legend turns 46 today. He’s currently managing Spartak Moscow but today being his birthday is a good chance to look back at this ridiculous volley he scored back in 2011 in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Masterclass in technique.

On this day in football…

Ever wondered what was happening in football on September 11th 2001? Well there were Champions League games scheduled and UEFA decided they should go ahead but with a 1-minute silence.

Arsenal lost 1-nil to Mallorca in Spain after Ashley Cole gave away a penalty and was sent off in the 10th minute. Back in England, Liverpool drew 1-1 at home to Portuguese side Boavista in an Anfield that was unusually quiet. Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier later remarked “a draw was the right result because no one had the heart to celebrate”. 

Goal of the week…

There were some fine goals in the Nations League matches over the past week including this goal from Italy’s Federico Dimarco and this overhead from Denmark’s Yussuf Poulsen but our goal of the week has to Ronaldo’s 900th career goal in Portugal’s 2-1 win over Croatia.

Ronaldo becomes the first to score 900 goals in official matches. Messi is sitting in second on 842 goals. There are claims that Pele scored 1,279 goals in his career, but as many of these came in unofficial matches, the brazilian legend’s actual record is 765 goals.

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