New-look Arsenal faces early derby baptism by fire against Tottenham
LONDON (Reuters) – New Arsenal signings Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan will get an early taste of the north London derby atmosphere when the Gunners face Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley on Saturday.
The pair enjoyed comfortable home debuts in last weekend’s 5-1 rout of Everton, but Arsenal’s local rival is sure to provide tougher opposition as the two teams continue their bids for Champions League qualification.
Spurs are fifth in the table, four points ahead of sixth-place Arsenal, one behind fourth-place Chelsea and two adrift of third-place Liverpool with 12 games left.
Arsenal outplayed Tottenham in a 2-0 home victory in November, but Spurs have every reason to be confident having soundly beaten second-place Manchester United and drawn 2-2 at Liverpool in their last two games.
On Sunday, Liverpool travels to face a Southampton side that ended a 12-match winless run in the league and climbed two points clear of the relegation zone with a 3-2 victory over West Bromwich Albion in its last match.
Chelsea, meanwhile, will welcome bottom club West Brom on Monday on the back of losing 3-0 at home to Bournemouth and 4-1 away to Watford.
The results prompted widespread speculation that manager Antonio Conte would be sacked, but it appears that Chelsea’s board is prepared to give the Italian some more time.
Another blip against West Brom, which has won only three times this season and sits four points from safety, would almost certainly put Conte back on the brink of losing his job.
Leader Manchester City has the chance to bounce back from being held to a 1-1 draw by Burnley when it hosts eighth-place Leicester City on Saturday.
Pep Guardiola’s side missed several good chances at Turf Moor and its gap at the top was cut to 13 points following Manchester United’s 2-0 win over Huddersfield Town.
Manchester United will hope to secure back-to-back wins when it visits another relegation-threatened team, Newcastle United, on Sunday.
The Magpies are 16th, a point above the relegation zone, and have not won in four league matches, although they have been boosted by the loan signings of Kenedy from Chelsea and Islam Slimani from Leicester.