Tottenham Hotspur know they need to pick up results and quickly with 12 matches of the Premier League season remaining, starting against Arsenal on Sunday.
Spurs currently lie 16th in the top flight standings and following West Ham United’s goalless draw with Bournemouth at the London Stadium on Saturday, the north Londoners are just four points above the relegation zone as they look to avoid a devastating relegation to the Championship this term.
Caretaker manager Igor Tudor has been tasked with moving Tottenham up the Premier League table following the dismissal of Thomas Frank following defeat to Newcastle United last time out.
Spurs are looking for their first league win of 2026 and just their third in 18 matches when they host title hopefuls and local rivals Arsenal in the latest north London derby at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.
Tottenham Look to Avoid Eberechi Eze Repeat
Tottenham thought they had won the race to sign the highly-coveted Eberechi Eze from London rivals Crystal Palace in the summer, before Arsenal swooped in to hijack the move, and he made the switch to the Emirates instead.
It’s fair to say that aside from one moment, the England international’s Gunners career so far hasn’t gone to plan, with the 27-year-old scoring five goals and providing a further six assists in 34 appearances.
Three of those goals came against Spurs at the Emirates in November, when Eze’s hat-trick saw Arsenal win 4-1 in a game which summed up Tottenham’s fortune in recent years.
Aside from that standout moment for Eze, it has been a generally disappointing time, especially in the last 11 Premier League games when he has only started once.
In that start at Brentford, he was taken off at half-time and is clearly down the pecking order under Mikel Arteta at the moment.
Xavi Simons Can be NLD Game-Changer
While Eze’s Arsenal career has taken a backwards step since the reverse fixture against Tottenham, there is a feeling that Xavi Simons is finally starting to make his mark on games consistently following his summer move from RB Leipzig.
It did take the Netherlands international time to adapt to Premier League football, and the 22-year-old has clearly found it difficult playing in a Spurs side who are struggling at the wrong end of the table.
However, he has been more influential in recent weeks and months, and the arrival of a new manager in Tudor can help him step up another level.
talkPORT pundit Jamie O’Hara said earlier this month that Simons has been ‘performing better than Eze’ and is the better signing as things stand.
Arsenal have shown their vulnerabilities defensively in recent games as the Premier League title race hots up, and Simons has the quality and ability to unlock defences that could make him the game-changer in the latest edition of the north London derby.
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Tottenham vs Arsenal: Team News and Confirmed Starting Lineups for Premier League Match
Tottenham and Arsenal will go head-to-head in the north London derby in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.
