Arsenal to face Spurs in North London Derby

Tottenham Hotspur host Arsenal in North London Derby at Wembley

North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal collide at Wembley Stadium this weekend with the game sure to have top-four EPL implications for both sides. Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs and Arsene Wenger's Gunners meet in a highly-anticipated North London derby on Saturday, with each club desperate for a win. Tottenham, fresh from beating Newport County 2-0 in an FA Cup fourth-round replay on Wednesday, sit fifth on the England Premier League Table, only one point behind fourth-place Chelsea in the race for a top-four league spot and Champions League football next season. Arsenal thrashed Everton 5-1 last weekend and sit sixth, four points behind the Spurs. Here is a recap of Arsenal's win against Everton.

England Premier League: Arsenal 5-1 Everton
Arsenal goals: Aaron Ramsey 6, Laurent Koscielny 14, Aaron Ramsey 19, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 37, Aaron Ramsey 74
Everton goal: Dominic Calvert-Lewin 64

Arsenal thrashed Everton 5-1, much to the delight of their veteran manager Arsene Wenger. New signing Aubameyang scored a debut goal and Aaron Ramsey scored a hat-trick. Gunners debutant Mkhitaryan made three assists. With the victory and three points, Arsenal moved to within three points of fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur and fans got to see new signings Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan for the first time. "The new signings have lifted the club. Aubameyang felt much better than expected and was declared fit yesterday, so I thought it was better to start him, and if it doesn't work we can take him off," said Gunners manager Arsene Wenger. Mkhitaryan has a point to prove and has an opportunity here to show he can be very successful in the Premier League. He was very successful at Dortmund, and a player that was admired by everybody. I hope he can do that here now."

Arsène Wenger talked about the great diving debate telling a joke ahead of the North London Derby coming up this weekend. "I remember there were tremendous cases here when foreign players did it but I must say the English players have learned very quickly, and they might even be the masters now." After a feisty match last weekend when Tottenham Hotspur's Dele Alli was booked for simulation and Harry Kane was accused of diving by Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk, Wenger stated that the issue needs attention. "We have to get diving out of the game," said Wenger. "I don't tell my players to dive. I don't encourage them to dive at all. You want your players to be intelligent. Sometimes they have played a little bit with the rules, they make more of it on the penalty case. Every striker will do that. How far can you go? That is down to the referees and I think that sometimes, at normal speed, it is very difficult to determine. As much as I can be harsh with the referees, on that front I am quite tolerant because when you watch a game live it is very difficult at 100% pace to distinguish whether it is a dive or not. Most of the time, when a player is going to the goalkeeper, they push the ball away from goal. They had a good rule in England when I arrived here. When the striker pushes the ball away from the goal, they didn't give penalties because the only resource the striker has after is to look for a penalty. In many cases now, the guy goes and if the goalkeeper has their hands off, the striker leaves a leg as long as he can to make sure that the goalkeeper touches him. But that's not really a penalty."

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere is set to sign a new contract with Arsenal worth around £90,000-a-week. Wilshere is enjoying an injury-free season at the Emirates and has produced his best form for Arsenal since 2011. Wilshere, 25, is out of contract at the end of the season but Wenger wants the England international to stay on. One reason why Wilshere has not signed yet is that Arsenal want him to accept a lower basic salary with added income from incentives such as appearances and goals. Wilshere is out of contract at the end of the season. Arsenal believe that Wilshere's injury record should be taken into account during negotiations and Wenger says the midfielder is set to stay. "We try to make progress and I told you that many times for Mesut Ozil," said Wenger. 'I'm positive because I want him to stay. I do the maximum I can to make him happy."

Tottenham and Arsenal meet at Wembley on Saturday for the first time since 1993, when a Tony Adams header won an FA Cup semi-final. Arsenal face Tottenham on Saturday noon at Wembley where Wenger's team have won their last nine matches including three FA Cup finals. "It is a big game because we are behind in the table and we have to catch up," he says. "It's more importantly mathematically for us, to come back as quickly as possible, rather than it being emotionally charged." Wenger is confident that a contract renewal for Jack Wilshere's new contract will be agreed upon soon, following on from the extension signed by Mesut Özil. The England midfielder has been at Arsenal since the age of nine. Wilshire has a few months left on his current deal, that expires this summer. "We try to make progress," said Wenger. "I told you that many times for Özil but you never believed me. I'm positive because I want him to stay. I do the maximum I can to make him happy."

Aaron Ramsey is not far behind, as his deal runs until the summer of 2019. "There are less time constraints than with Jack," Wenger says. "With Aaron, if we lose two weeks or three weeks, it doesn't matter much. I want him to stay as well." Both players are in contention to be named to Wenger's squad for Saturday, Ramsey who is popular after his hat-trick against Everton, and Wilshere fully recovered having been ill last week. Wenger is urging his team to defend collectively to try to stop dangerous goal scorer Harry Kane, currently one of the top strikers in Europe. "What you want in a game like that is to keep him quiet and our strikers, who are top-class in Europe as well, to express their talent," added Wenger.

This weekend Arsenal battle local rivals Tottenham, with victory seen as crucial if the Gunners are to haul themselves back into contention for European qualification next season. If Spurs win they would be seven points ahead of the Gunners. Arsenal are still competing for the title even though league leaders Manchester City are 24 points ahead with just 12 games to go. "There's nothing impossible in the English Premier League,' Arsenal's Mohamed Elneny said. "We still have our chance to compete for the title, we have to fight till the end, many surprises can occur at any point. If we fail to compete for the title this season, we have to prepare for the next season, but currently we are only thinking about finishing as high as possible in the league."

Squads
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang played despite having a fever. Arsenal's £56m new signing made his debut against Everton. Another new signing made his first home appearance at the Emirates, Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Theo Walcott was welcomed back to the Emirates! Everton's new hero, Theo Walcott, returned to his old stomping ground, with three goals already for his new club. Sam Allardyce has lost his last nine matches against Arsenal.

Arsenal
Cech, Bellerin, Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal, Ramsey, Xhaka, Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Iwobi, Aubameyang. Subs: Lacazette, Wilshere, Ospina, Chambers, Maitland-Niles, Kolasinac, Elneny.
Everton
Pickford, Keane, Williams, Mangala, Kenny, Schneiderlin, Gueye, Martina, Walcott, Niasse, Bolasie. Subs: Rooney, Tosun, Sigurdsson, Davies, Calvert-Lewin, Holgate, Robles.
Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire).
Buy North London Derby tickets for Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal

Great seats and tickets are still for sale for the North London Derby on Saturday at Wembley Stadium between arch-rivals Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur. For the first time since February 2015, the North London Derby takes place in the Premier League without either of the two clubs currently in the top four. Arsene Wenger's side must rise up into the top-four race, with the challenge on Saturday to halt a run of appalling away form that runs to only 7 wins in 25 league matches. "We win at Wembley, right," was Hector Bellerin's social media message to new signing Alexandre Lacazette before the Community Shield, and so it proved. This London Derby is a must-attend clash for both Spurs and Gunners fans! Buy your Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal tickets now securely online at 1st4FootballTickets.com!