Arsenal host Tottenham in a north London derby at Emirates Stadium where defeat would be hard to absorb for either manager.
The Gunners’ hopes of domestic success this season took another hit after an FA Cup penalty shoot-out defeat to 10-man Manchester United over the weekend. Mikel Arteta’s side are without key attackers Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus, struggling for goals from open play and cannot afford to lose any further ground on Premier League leaders Liverpool.
Goals from open play or otherwise at either end have not been hard to find in Tottenham’s games this season, for better or worse. That made being held at 0-0 for 100 minutes by National League side Tamworth at least a new form of embarrassment for Ange Postecoglou and his players.
Spurs at least managed to get past their non-league foes 3-0 in extra time and their 1-0 first-leg win over Liverpool in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semifinals sits alongside authoritative away wins over Manchester United and Manchester City this term.
This rivalry could yet be played out in the Carabao Cup final but such are Arsenal’s dwindling confidence levels and Tottenham’s maddening inconsistencies it pays to take neither that nor tonight’s outcome for granted
The Sporting News is following the Arsenal vs. Tottenham match live, providing score updates and commentary
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Arsenal vs. Tottenham score
| 1st Half | Goalscorers | |
| Arsenal | — | |
| Tottenham | — |
Venue: Emirates Stadium, London
Referee: Simon Hooper
Keep track of every game and every goal via SN’s live Premier League scoreboard
Predicted lineups:
Arsenal (4-3-3, right to left): Raya (GK) — — — —
Tottenham (4-3-3, right to left): Kinsky (GK) — — —
MORE: All the latest Liverpool news | Premier League schedule for 2024/25 | Latest Premier League top scorer rankings
Arsenal vs. Tottenham live updates, highlights, and commentary
1 hr 40 mins before kickoff: So who’s your money on, then? The Arsenal team that can’t seem to score against quality opponents or the Tottenham team no one fancies when it comes to stopping the opposition scoring. Having said that, Ange Postecolglou has already warned us to be careful of such narratives. Spurs have only conceded nine goals away from home this season – the best in the division – and kept clean sheets as they downed Manchester United and Manchester City on their travels.
You don’t want to hear my explanation, you’d rather hear that I don’t like defending, we’re open, that we have this ridiculously high line, that we get torn apart in every game. That’s the narrative.
Considering the challenges we’ve had I think our defending this year has been very good. We’ve been blown away in a couple of games, Liverpool significantly, Chelsea, but aside from that even the losses we’ve had they were only by a goal in very tight games.
I think it’s been a collective approach of us working hard defensively. What’s let us down is just moments in games. We’ve lost focus. Even games when we’ve defended really well we’ve switched off at key moments and it’s really cost us, whether that’s home or away. That’s the area we need to eradicate, but Toni is the fourth keeper we’ve used this year. We’ve had I don’t know how many different back fours.
Anyone will tell you cohesion and communication and understanding in defensive units is key and we haven’t had that. Considering all that, for the most part, our defensive set-up has worked, mainly because of how hard the team works as a unit. It’s not just about the back four, because we do work so hard we make it difficult for oppositions to create a lot against us.
2 hours before kickoff. Hello and welcome to The Sporting News’ live coverage of a pretty mouth-watering clash between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool from the City Ground. Are Forest in the title race? Is there even a title race at all? Those and other questions should be answered over the course of this evening.
Arsenal vs. Tottenham kickoff time
This Premier League match kicks off in London, UK at 8 p.m. local time.
Here’s how that time translates across some of the major territories:
| Date | Kickoff time | |
| USA | Wed, Jan 15 | 3:00 p.m. ET |
| Canada | Wed, Jan 15 | 3:00 p.m. ET |
| UK | Wed, Jan 15 | 8:00 p.m. GMT |
| Australia | Thu, Jan 16 | 7:00 a.m. AEDT |
| India | Thu, Jan 16 | 1:30 a.m. IST |
Arsenal vs. Tottenham lineups, team news
Arteta also lost Gabriel Jesus to a knee injury during the first half of the United cup tie, with the Brazilian facing an extended spell on the sidelines.
Jesus joins Bukayo Saka on the list of absentees with Ben White, Ethan Nwaneri and Takehiro Tomiyasu all at least another two weeks away from a return.
Arteta will make late calls on the fitness of full-back pair Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber, with the latter replaced during extra time against United. Declan Rice and Thomas Partey are poised to return to the starting XI alongside Martin Odegaard in midfield.
Arsenal (4-3-3, right to left): Raya (GK) — Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly — Odegaard, Partey, Rice — Sterling, Havertz, Martinelli.
Arsenal subs: Matchday squads are released one hour and 15 minutes prior to kickoff
Dejan Kulusevski, Son Heung-min, Lucas Bergvall and Dominic Solanke all had to come off the bench to inspire the Tamworth salvage job and Postecoglou is likely to start the quartet here.
However, injuries continue to be a major issue defensively, with Guglielmo Vicario, Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie amongst eight absentees.
Tottenham (4-3-3, right to left): Kinsky (GK) — Porro, Gray, Dragusin, Spence — Bissouma, Sarr, Bergvall — Kulusvski, Solanke, Son.
Tottenham subs: Matchday squads are released one hour and 15 minutes prior to kickoff
Arsenal vs. Tottenham live stream, TV channel
Here’s how to watch this Premier League match across selected areas of the world’s major regions: