Ahead of Wednesday’s clash in the Capital One Cup, Read Tottenham spoke to Adam Hamdani of Read Arsenal to get the lowdown on everything we need to know about our North London rivals.
What do you think of Arsenal’s start to the season?
Difficult. It’s been a weird one, three losses in all competitions so far this season and we’ve not played particularly well. The West Ham game at the start of the season was a genuine poor performance and there’s not much more that can be said about it and the signs against Crystal Palace, the home draw to Liverpool and the away win at Newcastle United were good, but with the loss of Francis Coquelin to injury it gives me a lot less confidence.
Overall, it’s been a decent start to the season, but it has to have been much better if we’re going to prove anything.
Who has been your best player so far?
Hector Bellerin. He’s becoming such a good footballer and has found a huge amount of consistency to his game, which is great to see at a tender age. Nacho Monreal has also been good on the other side of the pitch.
What was your view on Arsenal’s summer transfer business?
Bringing in Petr Cech is a world-class acquisition from Wenger, but whether he is enough for the club to be successful, I really doubt. We needed more depth in the forward areas and in midfield, for exactly the sort of situation we are seeing now – Francis Coquelin injured.
Morgan Schneiderlin would have been the perfect signing for Arsenal, but he was stolen away by Arsenal and I don’t believe that Arsene Wenger would have committed to spending the big bucks on a striker because the availability wasn’t really there.
Will Arsenal win any silverware this season?
The FA Cup. Obviously. We’ll push for the Premier League, but if we finish higher than third, I’d be very surprised. Wenger doesn’t really consider the Capital One Cup as a big trophy, more a chance to allow younger players to feature competitively, so I’d be surprised if we won that and the UEFA Champions League is extremely unrealistic – not just for Arsenal, but for any of the English sides.
Your favourite north London derby of recent times?
The 5-2 game of 2012/13 where Emmanuel Adebayor was sent and booed off the pitch, what an exciting game that was. The 5-4 in 2004/05 was unreal too, what a performance Jermain Defoe put in.
Which Tottenham player will cause Arsenal the most problems on Wednesday?
If Christian Eriksen is fit to play then definitely him, he’s a player I really admire and his movement in the number 10 role is unbelievable. He has a great end product the majority of the time and with Coquelin out injured, he will be able to pick pockets against the likes of Mathieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta – both of whom will likely start on Wednesday.
And your prediction for the score?
2-1 to Arsenal after extra time, with Harry Kane scoring for Spurs, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain notching one for Arsenal before Theo Walcott bags the winner!
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