Arsenal v Tottenham: Premier League – live

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13 min: The free kick is shovelled into the box diagonall from the right by Son. Richarlison steps ahead of Arsenal’s high line, and pokes the dropping ball towards the bottom left. Ramsdale parries brilliantly. Spurs finally bare their teeth.

12 min: Partey fouls an in-flight Richarlison, but the referee gives Spurs the advantage. Emerson romps down the right and slips infield for Kane, who draws a cheap one from Gabriel. A free kick. Spurs load the box.

10 min: Martinelli skips past a sliding Emerson and zips along the left touchline. He then draws Richarlison towards the corner flag, before dinking the ball back upfield, running around the Spurs striker and retrieving it. Glorious skill, but he’s then harshly penalised for running into Emerson, back on the scene. That was audacious.

8 min: Arsenal have enjoyed 77 percent of possession so far. That stat doesn’t surprise at all. Spurs are struggling to string anything together.

6 min: Jesus accidentally kicks Dier in the face. Dier had been stooping extremely low, so you can’t really blame the Arsenal striker for that. Dier’s OK to continue, and Kane hoicks the resulting free kick witlessly out for a goal kick. Spurs haven’t got started at all.

4 min: Saka sends a diagonal into the Spurs box from the right. Xhaka attempts a Giroud-style flick at the far post, his contortions sending the ball out for a goal kick. Spurs can’t get out at the minute.

3 min: Saka crosses long from the right. Martinelli chests down, on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box, and batters a shot off the base of the left-hand post! Out for what should be a goal kick … except a corner’s awarded. Martinelli sends it straight out of play.

2 min: Arsenal fly out of the blocks. Odegaard sets the home side on the attack with a cute nutmeg to find Jesus, who feeds Martinelli on the left. He wins a throw. The ball’s flung in long, and flicked on by Xhaka. Lenglet is forced to hack out for a corner. Lloris punches the set piece clear, but not in particularly convincing fashion.

Tottenham Hotspur get the ball rolling. A huge roar cannonballs around the stadium. The north London derby, right here!

The teams are out! Arsenal in red, Spurs in white, the Emirates bubbling away in fevered anticipation. “Arsenal fans’ prayers, candles and animal sacrifices have worked,” begins Charles Antaki. “Both Zinchenko and Partey are fit to play, also ?degaard. Not to say that one or other, or indeed all of them, might not break down within the first five minutes, but it’s a start.” We’ll be off in a couple of shakes.

Antonio Conte speaks to BT. “In England there are many, many derbies. This is an important derby, but it has to become important for the table, and not only the rivalry. We need to fight for something important in the future. I have picked the formation that is the best start to this run of 13 games.”

Fancy a stroll down Memory Lane N5? A meander along Nostalgia Avenue N17? Let Rob and Simon take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of north London.

Some pre-match reading. Plenty of time before kick-off.

Tottenham’s recent record at Arsenal is not good. Just two wins in 37, the most recent coming in 2010 when they came from two down to snatch victory at the death. Relive that match if you like with some hot retro MBM action! Son Heung-min, back in form after that quickfire hat-trick against Leicester, and with a record of four goals in his last five Premier League matches against Arsenal, is in the mood to slake Tottenham’s 12-year thirst. “It’s tough to listen to this!” he tells BT Sport. “Even when I was away with the national team I was hearing 12 years! It’s tough to hear. Hopefully today will change the history. Everyone has to be ready and it’s going to be a big battle.”

Mikel Arteta talks to BT Sport. “It is the strongest team we believe gives us a chance to win the game. We have managed to recover the players and hope they are in the best possible condition to play. Tottenham are a really dangerous team, we know that. But you cannot allow players to play with the handbrake. We will go in there with full courage and go for it.”

Arsenal make two changes to the starting XI named for the 3-0 victory at Brentford. Oleksandr Zinchenko and Martin Odegaard are back from injury, so Kieran Tierney and Fabio Vieira drop to the bench. Thomas Partey has been passed fit to start.

Tottenham – who have won only two of their last 37 league matches on the patch of their arch-rivals – make three changes to the team that gubbed Leicester 6-2 a couple of weeks ago. Son Heung-min, Cristian Romero and Emerson Royal come in for Ryan Sessegnon and Davinson Sanchez, who drop to the bench, and Dejan Kulusevski, who twanged his hamstring while away with Sweden. Hugo Lloris is OK to play despite injury worries.

Arsenal: Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus.Subs: Tierney, Nketiah, Holding, Tomiyasu, Vieira, Sambi Lokonga, Nelson, Alencar, Turner.

Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Romero, Dier, Lenglet, Emerson, Hojbjerg, Bentancur, Perisic, Richarlison, Son, Kane.Subs: Doherty, Skipp, Sanchez, Gil Salvatierra, Sessegnon, Forster, Spence, Sarr, Bissouma.

Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire).

Does the north London derby need hyping up when the top of the Premier League table looks like this?

Pos
Team
P
GD
Pts
1
Arsenal
7
10
18
2
Man City
7
17
17
3
Tottenham Hotspur
7
11
17
4
Brighton
6
6
13

Nope! Kick off is at 12.30pm BST. It’s on!

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