Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has been handed another injury doubt ahead of their looming derby clash at home to Tottenham, following the now-confirmed news that star defender Gabriel Magalhaes is set for weeks on the sidelines.
The Gunners welcome Spurs to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday brimming with confidence, as Arteta’s side look to extend their remarkable recent dominance over their fiercest rivals and strengthen their grip atop the Premier League summit.
Arsenal enter the 198th North London derby in commanding form despite a late setback at Sunderland ending their 10-match winning streak. They sit four points clear at the top of the table, and history suggests they’re well-positioned to maintain that advantage.
Arsenal’s unbeaten run in all competitions since defeat to Liverpool
Arsenal 3-0 Nottingham Forest
Athletic Bilbao 0-2 Arsenal
Arsenal 1-1 Man City
Port Vale 0-2 Arsenal
Newcastle 1-2 Arsenal
Arsenal 2-0 Olympiacos
Arsenal 2-0 West Ham
Fulham 0-1 Arsenal
Arsenal 4-0 Atlético Madrid
Arsenal 1-0 Crystal Palace
Arsenal 2-0 Brighton
Burnley 0-2 Arsenal
Slavia Prague 0-3 Arsenal
Sunderland 2-2 Arsenal
Arsenal have won five of their last six Premier League encounters with Spurs, including three consecutive victories – their longest winning run against Tottenham since the late 80s (The Analyst).
Home advantage has proven decisive in this fixture. Indeed, Arsenal have lost just one of their last 32 home Premier League derbies against Tottenham, winning 19 and drawing 12, with that solitary defeat coming in November 2010 (The Analyst).
The Emirates has become a fortress against their arch rivals, with Arsenal having scored in each of their last 26 home league games against Spurs, netting at least twice in the previous eight meetings.
However, Arsenal have had numerous injury doubts to contend with, as they have for most of this season.
Gabriel is now reportedly set for at least a month on the sidelines after injuring his thigh on international duty with Brazil, with Viktor Gyokeres, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke and Gabriel Jesus have all been missing recently.
Riccardo Calafiori could miss Tottenham as Arsenal dealt another injury doubt
As well as this, star left-back Riccardo Calafiori, who’s been one of Arsenal’s players of the season so far according to Ray Parlour, was nursing a hip problem on international duty with Italy.
After checks this week, Fabrizio Romano stated that Calafiori is ready to play with no injuries, just ‘overload’, so Arteta’s latest update actually comes as quite a surprising twist.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, via football.london, Arteta says that Calafiori has been unavailable, and they’ll have to wait and see if he can take part against Spurs, pending another Saturday training session.
“Yeah he wasn’t available,” Arteta said.
“He’s been carrying a few things and we had to bring him back. He hasn’t trained yet, we have a session tomorrow so we will see.”
With Gabriel already ruled out, losing Calafiori would strip Arsenal of their two most versatile defensive options in one fell swoop.
If the former Bologna star is ruled out, Myles Lewis-Skelly is poised to return at left-back, with one of Cristhian Mosquera or Piero Hincapie replacing Gabriel. Calafiori’s been in exceptional form this term, so much so that Lewis-Skelly, one of Hale End’s latest rising stars, has barely got a look-in despite his excellent end to 24/25.
The 23-year-old would be a sore miss for Arteta, who is now facing a real selection headache ahead of one of Arsenal’s biggest games of the year.
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