Darren Bent has not named a single Tottenham Hotspur player in his combined Spurs and Arsenal eleven ahead of the North London Derby.
Those associated with Arsenal certainly seem quite confident heading into Sunday’s game, which is to be expected given their home record in this fixture and the fact that Mikel Arteta’s men are trying to chase Manchester City for the Premier League title.
The likes of Paul Merson have said that Spurs will be humbled if they try to take the game to the home side, predicting a 5-1 win for the Gunners (Sportskeeda).
Ange Postecoglou acknowledged in his press conference on Friday that Arsenal are one of the best sides in the Premier League and are further along in their process, but he remarked that his side will not change the way they play (Football.London).
No Tottenham players in Darren Bent’s combined XI
Bent believes that Arsenal are so much better than their North London rivals that not a single Spurs player gets into their eleven.
When asked to pick a combined eleven, between the two sides, the pundit told talkSPORT: “Goalkeeper, I’m going [David] Raya or [Aaron] Ramsdale. I think they are better goalkeepers. Ben White at right back, brilliant.
“Two centre-halves [William] Saliba and Gabriel. I think for Arsenal (White) is a right-back. I think the partnership between Saliba and Gabriel is so strong you can’t break that up.
“Left-back [Oleksandr] Zinchenko, the whole inverted midfield player, Zinchenko is fantastic at that. Tierney just couldn’t play that inverted role as well as Zinchenko, he was about straight lines. We had [Jurrien] Timber as well but he got injured.
“Midfield I’m going [Declan] Rice, [Thomas] Partey, [Martin] Odegaard. He [James Maddison] doesn’t play holding midfield, does he?
“Saka, Gabriel Jesus down the middle and [Gabriel] Martinelli. The reason I’ve not put Son in there is he wasn’t great last season, he scored a hat-trick playing up top, he’s not played well on the left.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I understand why many pundits and Arsenal fans are not putting any Tottenham players in their eleven as the Spurs team has plenty of newcomers and we are yet to see them tested over the course of the season.
One can argue that the likes of Bissouma, Maddison, Son and Romero would have a shout of getting into the combined eleven right now. By the end of this season, some of Van de Ven, Udogie, Vicario and Sarr might also be legitimate shouts.
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
