Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Tim Sherwood believes that Arsenal can be considered as favourites heading into Sunday’s North London derby.
Tottenham head into the fixture at the Emirates three points better off than their fierce rivals at this early stage of the new campaign, however, Sherwood feels that the momentum rests with the Gunners.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side won their first three Premier League matches of the new season, however, they have found things much more difficult following the international break having lost to both Crystal Palace and Chelsea by a 3-0 scoreline.
Arsenal on the other hand come into the fixture on the back of two top flight victories against Norwich City and Burnley to help ease a tough start to the season for Mikel Arteta.
Sherwood admits that it is a difficult match to predict, but a victory for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side will help to ease the frustration of the recent defeats and eventually went for 1-1 draw.
He told Ladbrokes: “I would say at the moment Arsenal are favourites because of the momentum of winning the last two games, albeit against Norwich and Burnley, you’ve still got to win in the Premier League and it’s very difficult.
“Tottenham are on the back of two defeats so you’d have to say the confidence will be with Arsenal going into it. When I look at the two sides it’s very difficult picking a winner.
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“Kane is always massive in these games because he knows what it means but on the other hand Aubameyang doesn’t mind a goal either in these fixtures.
“It’s a really difficult one to call and I imagine the odds are very, very tight – I can’t split it. If Tottenham win it’ll wipe those two 3-0 defeats away and they’ll become a distant memory for those fans if they can win the NLD.
“This game is huge, it’s huge to people who know about it. I was born in North London, and it was either red or white and that was what you had to be. If there is a difference between the two sides it is Harry Kane, his goalscoring record in this game is ridiculous.
“It’s win at all costs in this game.
“Yes, it’s win at all costs in every game, no matter how you play, because if you win it doesn’t matter, but for Tottenham fans beating Wolves and beating Watford it’s a means to an end to win silverware, and if it means you can keep winning and keep playing like that they won’t care, but if you’re not winning then they want to be entertained.
“There is a way to do that, Pochettino got very close but he still never won. There is a way of delivering both and you can deliver both but you’ve got to have the right manager and players to deliver it and I don’t think they have either at the moment.”
Sherwood added when asked about his score prediction: “I’m on the fence for the result because it’s a game that’s on the fence. I think it will be a draw, a low-scoring one at that.
“1 v 1 with Kane and Aubameyang scoring.”
SpursWeb Opinion
Tottenham need to desperately solve their lack of creativity when they head to the Emirates, while also being much more organised defensively from set pieces having conceded sloppy goals from corner kicks against both Chelsea and Wolves.
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