5 bold Premier League predictions: Aubameyang helps Arsenal to north London derby victory
The north London derby is the highlight of Premier League matchweek 27. Here are five bold predictions about what’s to come.
We’re two thirds of the way through the Premier League season, and the action (except for the title race, obviously) is only getting better. This weekend, Tottenham and Arsenal kick it all off in Saturday’s early match. Manchester City host Leicester at the Etihad later on Saturday, while Virgil van Dijk returns to St. Mary’s with Liverpool on Sunday afternoon. The weekend is rounded off on Monday when Chelsea host West Brom. Here are five bold predictions about what’s to come.
1. Aubameyang leads Arsenal to victory over Spurs
The most high-profile match of the weekend takes place at Wembley on Saturday, when Tottenham host Arsenal in the second north London derby of the season. A lot has changed since the last time these sides met.
In January, the Gunners swapped Alexis Sanchez for Henrikh Mkhitaryan and bought Borussia Dortmund forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for a club-record fee, giving the starting XI a new look for the remainder of the season.
Aubameyang scored on his debut in a 5-1 thrashing of Everton, and could be the 20-goal-a-season striker Arsenal have been looking for for so long. Then again, many people said the same thing about Alexandre Lacazette in the summer.
Tottenham had an FA Cup replay against Newport County on Wednesday and even though Mauricio Pochettino rested several key players, there could be a hangover. Also, while Spurs are a better team than their north London rivals these days, their record against them isn’t great.
Since Pochettino took over at the club ahead of the 2014-15 season, his side have beaten Arsenal only twice in eight tries. The Gunners also won this season’s league derby at the Emirates 2-0 thanks to goals from Sanchez and Shkodran Mustafi.
With Arsenal buoyant in the wake of a dominant performance on the debuts of their two big-name January signings, and Spurs in the middle of a much more congested run of fixtures (they face Juventus on Tuesday), Aubameyang can be the difference between the sides at Wembley.