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This afternoon is the North London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspurs.

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When the two teams last played each other Tottenham won 2-0 at White Hart Lane, thanks to goals from Heung-min Son and Harry Kane. At the time Tottenham were pushing for a title challenge and Arsenal looked like they might be in relegation battle.

Since then a lot has changed for the two sides, with Tottenham dropping down the table as Arsenal have somewhat recovered from their early season slump.

Tottenham have recently recovered form their terrible start to 2021 with five wins in a row in all competitions.

A huge reason for Tottenham’s turn around is Gareth Bale, who seems to be back to his best with five goals in his last five games.

This is huge for Spurs because now they have someone aside from Kane or Son who is consistently scoring goals for the North London side.

In Spur’s last game in the Premier League they won 4-1 against Crystal Palace where Kane and Bale scored a brace each.

Tottenham’s main striker will still be Harry Kane who has the most goals in the North London Derby since the beginning of the Premier League with 11.

This season Kane has scored 16 goals and has 13 assists this season in the Premier League.

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Arsenal have had a poor season so far and currently sit in 10th place in the Premier League, which is embarrassing for a “top 6 team”.

Due to Arsenal’s poor season, The North London derby has greater importance as it could be something they are happy with at the end of the season.

Going into the game Arsenal can have some confidence in their record against Tottenham as they are unbeaten against Spurs at the Emirates since December 2010.

The centre back partnership of David Luiz and Gabriel will have to perform extremely well if they are going to maintain the front three of Kane, Bale and Son.

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The last time this fixture took place at the Emirates it was a 2-2 draw where Arsenal came back from being 2-0 down.

In the game Tottenham were able to take an early lead thanks to a goal from Christian Eriksen, who has since left the club. Kane was able to double his side’s lead with a penalty.

Alexandre Lacazette was able to score just before half time, getting his team back into the game.

In the second half Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was able to score an equaliser as the game finished 2-2.

Since then Unai Emery and Mauricio Pochettino have been replaced by Mikel Arteta and José Mourinho.

Also, Arsenal won the FA Cup and Tottenham have reached the League Cup final.

However, both teams has struggled at different times in the Premier League, and both managers have faced criticism and been under pressure.

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Going into the game Tottenham know victory will be huge for their chances of qualifying for the Champions League next season.

However they do not have a good record at the Emirates and will do anything to make it right this Sunday.

Arsenal know it’s almost impossible for them to qualify for the Champions League this season but they can still make the Europa League places.

The Gunners will also have motivation in taking points away from Tottenham.

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