PREM: Arsenal v Tottenham preview
Arsenal v Tottenham preview
Arsenal hope to have Alexandre Lacazette available when they face north London rivals Tottenham.
The striker missed the 2-1 win at Bournemouth last weekend with a minor groin complaint and did not travel to Ukraine on Thursday for the Europa League game against Vorskla Poltava.
Unai Emery played a youthful side in Kiev and is expected to ring the changes against Spurs on Sunday.
Arsenal have won just one of their last eight Premier League matches against their north London rivals, although that win came at the Emirates last season.
Victory this weekend would see Arsenal move level on 30 points with Spurs in the Premier League table.
Spurs have won their last six matches in a row in all competitions and ended Chelsea's unbeaten start to the season with a 3-1 victory last weekend.
"It is important to build that confidence, to trust in the way that we play." said manager Mauricio Pochettino.
"But the derby is always a different game and our approach will be different. We know very well what it means for our fans and we hope to be at the level that we expect."
Pochettino says it's still too early to determine who will be in the title race.
"I don't care what is going on around us. We have improved from last season and after 13 games we have more points than last season. Arsenal are the same too. They are having an amazing season, like Manchester City or Liverpool.
"But it is only 13 games and there is still a lot to play. We will see what happens. We are coming to a period that is so difficult to manage, between now and Christmas we have a lot of games. In the next few months we will see if we are going to be there."
Arsenal will assess the fitness of Lacazette, who returned to training this week.
Nacho Monreal (hamstring), Konstantinos Mavropanos (groin) and Danny Welbeck (ankle) remain sidelined, while Mesut Ozil will be pushing for a recall after sitting on the bench at Bournemouth.
Erik Lamela is a doubt for Spurs after suffering a thigh injury in Wednesday's Champions League win over Inter Milan.
Kieran Trippier is close to a return from a groin injury, which has kept him out of the last two games.
Mousa Dembele, Davinson Sanchez and Victor Wanyama are out.