So, how can Spurs beat Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium this Saturday? "With great difficulty" would be the answer, based on recent performances, but Spurs certainly have it in them to give their bitter North London rivals their first league defeat of the new season. After a very solid start under new boss Mauricio Pochettino, Spurs' results haven't been great in recent games. A first defeat of the season - a 3-0 thrashing at home to Liverpool - was followed by a 2-2 draw at Sunderland in a match Spurs should have won easily, which was subsequently followed by a 0-0 draw in Serbia against Partizan Belgrade and a very poor 1-0 home loss to West Bromwich Albion last Sunday, which rightfully resulted in a rollicking for the players. Spurs have dominated possession in almost every game this season and they simply haven't done enough with it. Pochettino needs to rectify this, because dominating matches means nothing if it doesn't result in a threat on the opposition goal. The Lilywhites will need to make the most of their possession against the Gunners in particular, because Arsenal thrive in possession and their midfield is undoubtedly very strong. Perhaps Spurs could do with putting more men in the middle and reverting to a 4-3-3 formation, with the likes of Mousa Dembele, Etienne Capoue and Benjamin Stambouli all capable of bullying opponents with their physical prowess. Moreover, Spurs need to find a more regular end product and they need more goals to come from less obvious sources, while Pochettino's decision to play Younes Kaboul and Vlad Chiriches in the Premier League ahead of Jan Vertonghen and Federico Fazio against West Brom clearly backfired and hopefully the Argentinian coach will have learned from that error - Kaboul and Chiriches simply have too many errors in them to justify playing them as a pair against a team of Arsenal's quality. All that said, an on-song Spurs should be capable of beating anyone. If the likes of Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela and Emmanuel Adebayor find form at the same time, the currently dour mood at White Hart Lane could be very different after this weekend's derby. In essence, the question this post wants to ask is what do you think Spurs need to do to beat Arsenal on their own ground this weekend? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. And please feel free to follow me on Twitter!
