North London rivalry is as big as rivalry gets in English football. Huge games absolutely dominated by tension, aggression and historic bitterness between too clubs who often mark their achievements against one another.
Last year Tottenham looked like they might just get the better of Arsenal in the league, before a late season collapse saw them fall off the charts in the North London battle for second place. Unfortunately, a battle for second place is as good as it has got for the two clubs over the last few seasons.
Mauricio Pochettino and Arsene Wenger are yet to engage in a war of words quite on the scale of Wenger and many other Premier League managers have done. The rivalry has largely remained between the fan bases rather than managerial spouting and player aggression.
However, Arsenal’s inflated squad sees some players potentially becoming rather disillusioned with their status this summer.
Of those players, here are three would could be better off with Tottenham…
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Having moved to Arsenal at such a young age, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is yet to set the world alight as so many hoped he would.
The former Saint is a powerful, versatile player who would arguably fit better in to the Tottenham setup than he does at Arsenal. Whether rotating with Lamela on the right or used as the third central midfielder, Chamberlain would have a great opportunity to move himself up the pecking order.
At Arsenal ‘the Ox’ is currently languishing in the role of substitute and seems to only be afforded the opportunity to start when injuries are suffered throughout the squad.
The transfer may seem unlikely, but the England star would certainly be better off in the white half of North London.
Santi Cazorla
Oddly, the arrival of Granit Xhaka is bad news for Cazorla. Having previously played as the build-up man in the deep midfield role alongside Coquelin, Cazorla is likely to lose his place with Xhaka filling that role.
Along with this, if Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey remain fit, it’s hard to see how Cazorla fits in to the current Arsenal side. His role as a deep-lying playmaker could see him fill in ahead of Dembele in the Spurs midfield, or play with slightly more attacking freedom in a midfield three.
His career at Arsenal seems to be heading towards the bench and the chance to play at Spurs would certainly be higher. The Spaniard’s quality is not in doubt, of course, and he would immediately be higher up in the midfield hierarchy at Spurs.
Gabriel Paulista
Gabriel’s rash approach to defending continues to seem ill-suited to an Arsene Wenger defence and he seems just a step or two away from making a calamitous mistake each time he plays.
Although Spurs have plenty of defensive depth, a transfer could give Gabriel the opportunity to fill in for the injury-prone Jan Vertonghen ahead of Kevin Wimmer.
His position at Arsenal is currently strong, but Gabriel must be growing concerned at the consistent links for the Gunners to centre-halves.