Spurs a threat to Arsenal’s title challenge
● Arsenal will put their league title challenge on the line this afternoon when they visit Tottenham Hotspur, whose fans would love nothing more than to disrupt the aspirations of their archrivals.
Arsenal (24-5-5, 77 points) will make the short trip across North London after entering the weekend with a one-point lead atop the table over Manchester City, who have a match in hand.
Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with West Ham yesterday sees them sitting two points behind the Gunners, and further dented their already slim chances of winning the Premier League in coach Jürgen Klopp’s final season with the club. The Reds now rely heavily on rivals Arsenal and Manchester City dropping points in the run-in.
Klopp yesterday downplayed an incident in which forward Mohamed Salah appeared to have had a heated exchange with him shortly before the Egypt international was brought on as a second-half substitute.
“We spoke about that in the dressing room and it’s done for me, that’s all,” he told reporters.
However, Salah, who refused interviews with reporters in the mixed zone, said: “There’s going to be fire today if I speak.”
Arsenal should have plenty of confidence after consecutive shutout victories at Wolverhampton Wanderers and home to Chelsea. Kai Havertz recorded a brace in the 5-0 win over the Blues to become the third Arsenal scorer to reach double digits, with 11 league goals.
With a mostly healthy squad, a lack of distraction from European competition after a Champions League quarterfinal defeat to Bayern Munich, and the stakes clear, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta wants to nullify the added intensity the North London derby brings.
“We know about the rivalry. On top of that, we know what we are playing for, so I don’t think we need anything special because the game has got everything that you need as a player to go and enjoy it,” he said.
Fifth-placed Spurs have had nearly two full weeks to stew over one of their poorest performances of the season, a 4-0 loss at Newcastle United. Spurs are on a threematch home unbeaten run, and hope that 10goal scorer Richarlison — who hasn’t featured since April 2 due to an injury — can return for today’s clash.
Meanwhile, City manager Pep Guardiola has hinted that prolific scorer Erling Haaland could be back for the game against Nottingham Forest tonight.
Haaland, who is joint top of the league’s scoring charts this season with Chelsea’s Cole Palmer on 20 goals, sat out both Thursday’s league game and last Saturday’s FA Cup semifinal win over Chelsea with a muscle injury.
“I prefer to have Erling at my disposal than to have (the squad without him),” Guardiola told reporters. “I spoke with him, and he says he feels better, I don’t know.”
City are within a point of leaders Arsenal but with a game in hand are firmly in the driver’s seat to win an historic fourth successive league title.
While Forest are battling relegation, with just a point above the drop zone, Guardiola said City could not overlook any opponent and have zero margin for error. “I’ve been in that stadium (Forest’s City Ground) and always it is unbelievable, but what I’m concerned about is the strikers they have. We have to control the weapons that they have,” he said.