Arsenal face their North London rivals at the Emirates on Sunday as Mikel Arteta's side look to leapfrog Tottenham in the table.
Arsenal are fresh off the back of two 1-0 wins with new signings and returning players impressing, albeit against sides towards the bottom end of the league.
Meanwhile, after a fast start, Tottenham have sunk to a pair of 3-0 defeats to Crystal Palace and Chelsea with manager Nuno Espírito Santo struggling to figure out his new team.
Arsenal have been boosted by a clean bill of health with a full squad raring to go ahead of the weekend. Granit Xhaka has completed his three game suspension after his red card against Manchester City, and Mohamed Elneny has returned to training having overcome a hamstring injury.
In a way, this makes Mikel Arteta's job harder.
In the absence of Granit Xhaka, the Arsenal manager has been able to integrate Albert Sambi Lokonga into the side, ease Thomas Partey back from injury, and afford Ainsley Maitland-Niles some minutes in midfield.
A 90-minute goalscoring display from Alexandre Lacazette in the EFL Cup midweek puts him in contention to play, furthered by his 4 goals in 8 league games in this fixture.
Despite the recent transition towards his favoured 4-3-3, Mikel Arteta's choice of formation is also up in the air, with the return of Granit Xhaka and the way Burnley limited Thomas Partey's influence last weekend. A double pivot in the 4-2-3-1 could provide greater solidity and build up options, but would come at the expense of an attacking player.
The North London Derby provides Arsenal's first test with their new team.
Six new signings this summer alongside a healthy Gabriel Maghalães and Thomas Partey mean Mikel Arteta has nowhere to hide. It is time to see how good this Arsenal side can really be.
Arsenal have 3 wins and 2 draws in the last five league meetings between the sides at the Emirates. A loss this weekend would be damning for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal.
Prediction:
Arsenal 1 - 0 Tottenham
Burnley 0 - 1 Arsenal
A spectacular Martin Ødegaard free kick fired Arsenal to a 1-0 victory over Burnley at Turf Moor last Saturday.
The Norwegian stepped up and converted a 25-yard free kick on the half hour mark after Bukayo Saka was cynically brought down on the edge of the box.
Despite an onslaught of Burnley crosses, Arsenal withstood the pressure and held on to their second consecutive victory of the season, giving them confidence heading into the North London Derby.
Arteta's 4-3-3
Having ended the game against Norwich playing his favoured formation, Arteta began the game at Turf Moor in a 4-3-3 looking to replicate its success.
Partey came in to start his first Premier League game of the season, with Smith Rowe joining him in midfield, replacing Lokonga and Maitland-Niles.
However, it was Arteta’s personnel rather than his tactic which won Arsenal the game.
Burnley played how they are known for playing, in a deep block, on the counter and with lots of crosses into the box, making life difficult for Arsenal at both ends.
Wood and Barnes took it in turns man marking Thomas Partey, looking to stop Arsenal’s build up at source with so much of the play often forced through the Ghanaian midfielder. This is a potential problem Arteta will have to solve in future games.
Partey attempted the fourth most passes for Arsenal during the game (52) behind Tomiyasu (61), Ødegaard (63) and White (68). Burnley’s targeting was well founded because despite cutting him out of the game at times, Partey completed 8 final third entry passes, double Arsenal’s next highest (4).
The targeting of Thomas Partey may have been a factor in Arsenal’s signings this summer. If it was Arteta’s plan to transition his side to a 4-3-3, leaving Partey on his own at the base of the midfield, acquiring other ball progressors makes a lot of sense to compensate for games where Partey does not see a lot of the ball.
Ramsdale, White, Tomiyasu, Lokonga and Ødegaard are all strong passers of the ball, highlighted by three of them attempting more passes than Partey against Burnley.
Individual Resilience
A key feature of Arsenal's performance was individual resilience. Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, Gabriel and Partey were particularly impressive defensively, dealing with every Burnley attack.
The Claret's best chance of the game came as White under hit a backpass, allowing Vydra through on goal. Ramsdale rushed out and put in an excellent challenge, poking the ball away and preventing the goal.
Tomiyasu and Gabriel did a superb job dealing with the barrage of Burnley crosses, winning 8 aerial duels, making 9 clearances and registering 7 blocked shots.
In front of them, Partey screened the defence well, dropping into the backline to help outnumber the Burnley attackers.
It was a hard-fought and gritty performance led by this impressive quartet. At full time, the relief of the victory was summarised by Ramsdale's celebrations.
Arsenal 3 - 0 AFC Wimbledon
On Wednesday night, Arsenal sailed through to the 4th round of the EFL Cup after beating AFC Wimbledon 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium.
Arteta fielded a rotated side, providing minutes to his fringe players and those who struggled during the opening games of the season. Thomas Partey was the only surprise selection given his recent return from injury, but a pre-asinged hour for the Ghanaian was deemed to be beneficial in order to increase his match sharpness.
Martinelli won Arsenal a penalty 11 minutes in after being taken out by the defender making a last ditch challenge. Lacazette, captain for the night, stepped up and cooly slotted the ball into the bottom right corner.
The lead was doubled late on with substitute Smith Rowe prodding home a left footed shot following confusion in the penalty box.
Nketiah got in on the act with 10 minutes to play, back heeling Cédric's cross into the far corner to seal a 3-0 win for the Gunners.
Arsenal will play Leeds United in the 4th round of the EFL Cup on October 26.
Adam Perry - 24/09/2021