Arteta: North London derby may be postponed

MIKEL ARTETA says there is a chance Sunday’s north London derby could be called off as Arsenal are on threshold of not having enough players. Arsenal’s manager was buoyant last night, hailing his team’s spirit and mentality for grinding out a 0-0 draw in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final against Liverpool. They played with 10 men for 66 minutes, after Granit Xhaka’s red card, and the result makes them favourites to reach next month’s final. But Arteta was quick to highlight Arsenal’s ever expanding injury and illness list. They now have 11 players missing and could have as few as 12 outfield players available for the trip to Spurs. ‘It is a possibility in every game,’ said Arteta. ‘From our side, from the opponents’ side, because of the amount of issues everyone is having and because it is happening every week. We try to prepare games thinking we are going to play. If something happens along the way, it is what it is.’ Though Arsenal had one lucky reprieve in the last minute, when Takumi Minamino blazed over, they showed belligerence and organisation to restrict Liverpool to one shot on target.

Ben White, in particular, was outstanding as Arsenal became the first team since Real Madrid in April’s Champions League quarter-final to stop Liverpool scoring at Anfield. ‘When you come to a stadium like this, I said to them you have to pick players who are happy to go to war, going to fight,’ Arteta explained. ‘You are going to have difficult moments when you suffer.

It is about how you approach those moments. ‘If you are willing to help your team, willing to accept that in some moments you are not going to play the game you want then good things are going to happen. When you play with that spirit, fight and brotherhood around the team, in the end you get rewarded. That is what happened.’ White added: ‘That was terrible! But it’s nice to defend like that as a defender, keep a clean sheet and go home with a result. It wasn’t easy at all, especially against a team like Liverpool.’ Jurgen Klopp said: ‘I have no idea what Arsenal will do when we play at Arsenal. My mind is already on Brentford.

‘I know we can play better, we know we have to play better. A lot of things I liked, but the general outcome was not good enough. That’s the truth of this game and we have to accept it. ‘But it’s 0-0 at half-time, so let’s go for it.’