Tottenham have struggled to find the net recently, but their biggest challenge this weekend could come at the other end of the pitch. Spurs have conceded in 42 of their last 43 clashes with Arsenal in all competitions and have not kept a clean sheet against their north London rivals in 14 league meetings. On top of that, they'll face a Gunners attack in rich goalscoring form.

Spurs, it should be said, have been solid at the back all season: five goals against in 10 league games is by far the best record in the division. Four of those concessions have come via set-pieces, the other from a disastrous backwards header from Vincent Wanyama. Even without the injured Toby Alderweireld, Spurs have been tough to break down.

But this derby looks set to be their biggest test yet. Arsenal have hit 23 goals in 10 league encounter, only one fewer than top scorers Manchester City and Liverpool; even when they lost the season opener at home to the Reds, they managed to score three times. 

At that stage Alexis Sanchez was still finding his feet up front, while Mesut Ozil and Theo Walcott were yet to embark on goalscoring runs. That's now all changed, with Olivier Giroud also back in contention for a place in the XI. Should Walcott be passed fit for Sunday, Wenger could wheel out artillery of such weight that Spurs will do well to survive it. 

The false and the furious 

The evolution of Arsenal’s attack has taken some interesting twists and turns. Everything has revolved round Sanchez, who started the season as a lone striker in Giroud’s absence. He was first kept quiet by Liverpool but has since struck six league goals, which is a fine return even by his standards: the Chilean's current goalscoring rate is 0.7 per 90 minutes, up from 0.5 last season. 

Yet that's only half the story. Besides proving himself as a nimble poacher, Sanchez has often dropped deep in true false nine fashion to deliver the final pass. He has three assists so far this term, having managed just four last season. The best case example is his performance at Burnley, when he set up eight attempts for his team-mates. 

When Sanchez drops deep, spaces are left for others to exploit, with Walcott the chief beneficiary. The explosive attacker has oscillated between being a winger and a striker for some time, and his current role blends both: he stays wide for long periods, before ghosting into the box when moves are to be finished. 

The numbers tell the story. Last season Sanchez fired 3.9 shots per 90 minutes and Walcott 2.9; this season the Chilean has dropped to 3.3 and Walcott has jumped to 3.6. This has resulted in five league goals in nine appearances for Walcott, which is largely down to duo's partnership. “When we have Walcott, it balances well, because when Sanchez comes, Walcott goes,” Wenger said last week. “This is a good mixture, a good working unit.”

Serving the servant 

A similar factor has boosted Ozil. The playmaker pulled off a virtuosic solo effort against Ludogorets on Wednesday, and Wenger has commented on how the German is getting into more goalscoring positions, blending silky skills with cool efficiency. His finish in the 3-2 win at home to Swansea, hammered into the roof of the net, seemed to denote a new ruthless edge.

“When you see him finish like that, you think ‘Come on my friend – do it more often!’ because in training he scores. It’s very difficult to read for the keepers and he scores when he wants,” Wenger said. “And we want him to take more opportunities.”

Ozil scores against Swansea

It does seem that Ozil is going through an attitude change: he's scored three times and provided only one assist in the league, having set up 19 goals last campaign. Like Walcott, his shooting numbers are up, from 1.4 per 90 minutes to 2.0 this season. His average hasn't been this high since his valedictory Bundesliga campaign with Werder Bremen in 2009/10. 

But tactics have played a part too. Like Walcott, Ozil's been given more room inside the box because Sanchez tends to come short. In fact, all of Ozil’s three league goals have been assisted by the Chilean: at Watford, Alexis drifted out left and crossed for his team-mate, who exploited a gap and headed home; at home to Chelsea, the two combined on the counter; against Swansea, Sanchez lofted a pass over the defence to Ozil, who lashed home. 

Improvising quartet 

Wenger will have been pleased with this dynamic, but a luxury problem appeared when Giroud returned to action. It seemed as if the targetman had lost his place when Sanchez started up front at Sunderland last weekend, but then Giroud came off the bench to score twice and effectively win the game. His introduction immediately restricted Sanchez's movement, who returned to his old role on the left wing. 

With Giroud subsequently starting and scoring at Ludogorets, Wenger may chose to keep him up front, put Sanchez on the left left and drop Alex Iwobi, who has three assists but no league goals this season. That would rip up the dynamic between Sanchez, Walcott and Ozil, yet it would also assemble four in-form attackers whose contrasting specialities should make it possible to create efficient patterns of movement, whether by improvisation or design.

Indeed, the balance could be ideal: a targetman binding up defenders; a mobile playmaker who now chips in with goals as well as assists; and two direct wingers, one cutting inside and the other being capable of going on the outside too. Rarely have so many of Wenger’s attackers looked so sharp at the same time. Come Sunday, the Spurs defence could well be in for a busy afternoon.

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Billed as

The pressing World Cup. With lots of new world champion England players on show. 

The lowdown

There was a time when an April clash between the Scouse and Cockney tap dancers was nothing but an exercise in preparing for the following season amid impassioned pleas for next season to be different. Not this year.

Spurs’s motivation is obvious. They have a poor recent record against Liverpool – they last beat the Reds in November 2012 thanks to goals from Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale – and have title ambitions to develop.

With Arsenal's usual March collapse safely completed, it seems like a straight two-way dogfight with Leicester for Premier League glory. Spurs sit six points behind the indomitable Foxes, but will put serious pressure on Claudio Ranieri’s men with a win on Saturday evening. The league leaders, meanwhile, await Southampton on Sunday.

Yet Jurgen Klopp’s Merseysiders also have plenty to play for – and not just to spoil Spurs’ title chances. With 10 days to go until the mammoth Europa League quarter-final with Borussia Dortmund, competition for places against Klopp’s former flame is high at Anfield.

Plus, it won’t have escaped the squad’s radar that Mario Gotze, Jonas Hector and other (mainly German) recruits are being linked with summer moves to Merseyside. Playing for their places – especially after turning a 2-0 lead into a 3-2 defeat at Southampton last time out – and futures, then.

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Saturday’s clash is also a chance to see how England may fare at this summer’s Euro 2016. Nathaniel Clyne, James Milner, Jordan Henderson, Adam Lallana and Daniel Sturridge for Liverpool; Kyle Walker, Danny Rose, Eric Dier, Dele Alli and Harry Kane all have legitimate claims to make Roy Hodgson’s squad.

A soufflé of crowbars, current FourFourTwo cover star Alli is a phenomenon, his partnership with Kane critical to Spurs and England’s silverware hunt over the next couple of months. Though Liverpool don’t have the same English star names, Lallana is quietly having a very strong final third of the season ahead of the consistent Clyne.

The game’s biggest feature will be how Klopp and Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino will demand total conviction to press the opposition. With all the English quality on show, plus a sprinkling of foreign talent, you would expect this to resemble a basketball match, rather than a football one. 

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Team news

Philippe Coutinho's 6,000-mile round trip on international duty may see the Brazilian schemer primed for some bench duty.

Alberto Moreno should return from injury at left-back, but Roberto Firmino, Christian Benteke and Divock Origi are all doubts further forward (though the latter should make the squad), meaning Daniel Sturridge should start. Midfielder Lucas Leiva is still a week from full fitness.

Toby Alderweireld trained on Wednesday and Thursday after missing Belgium’s midweek trip to Portugal with a stomach bug and should be fit, but the Anfield game will probably be a week too soon for his compatriot Jan Vertonghen.

Erik Lamela, meanwhile, has returned from Argentina duty with a hamstring niggle and will most likely miss out.

Key battle: Jordan Henderson vs Dele Alli

A battle of the English midfielders will go a long way to deciding this contest. Liverpool badly missed Henderson in the second-half capitulation against Southampton, for his leadership as much as anything.

The Reds are a brilliant first-half team, but tire. Though Henderson seldom lasts 90 minutes, his calm head would surely have prevented the Sadio Mane chicken from being left to demolish the coop.

Alli has been the season’s revelation and is developing into a genuine No.10 of real quality. If he can find space, or extricate himself from tight spots like he did against Germany on international duty, the former MK Dons man could turn this game in Spurs’ favour.

What won’t happen

Seeing lazy, lethargic players. You get the impression both Klopp and Pochettino may have their charges linked up to electric shock machines, just in case they need buzzing into life.

Oh, or Pochettino to look anything less than immaculately dressed.

What will happen

A pulsating, never-say-die thrill-fest full of goalmouth action and non-stop running in a 1-1 draw.

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Billed as

Not even the biggest derby of the day, coming after the Tyne-Wear relegation apocalypse in schedule and significance – which says a lot about both of these sides.

The lowdown

Final alarm call for Manchester City. It was assumed the campaign’s final months would bring consistency, concentration and a concerted title push, but an upturn in form has taken so long to materialise that City have no more second chances. If they don’t win here, they’re out of the title race.

Obviously this is all Pep Guardiola’s fault. The real turning point, though, came five days after news of his impending arrival, when City – unbeaten in seven – lost 3-1 at home to Leicester. The gap has doubled to 12 points since then.

Forked tongues are wagging ahead of this derby. Roy Keane’s opinion, as City face the club he represented for 12 years, is that “watching [their] games has been torture”. Rio Ferdinand’s opinion, as City face the club he represented for 12 years, is that “they’ve gone backwards – they’re further down than at any time since the money was injected”. On a totally unrelated note, in late 2008 City lined up with a full-strength XI that included Tal Ben Haim, Javier Garrido and Ched Evans.

Yet Manchester City are the only English team left in the Champions League. They’d probably be the only one left in Europe if Liverpool hadn’t qualified by default in drawing another English team.

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Ah yes, Manchester United – home of the false dawn. February’s win over Arsenal should have heralded improvement, not a scrappy win over Watford, a crappy defeat at The Hawthorns and defeat to Liverpool either side of a fortuitous stalemate with West Ham.

The queue to bash Louis van Gaal runs around the block. He, like David Moyes, could be dismissed the moment United mathematically miss out on the top four. Good thing a win here would bring them to within a point of that target.

Facts and figures

• Man United have won just 1 of their last 8 Premier League away games (W1 D3 L4).
• Man City have won 4 and lost just 1 of the last 6 Premier League meetings with United.
• Sergio Aguero has scored 7 goals in 7 Premier League games against United. Only five players have scored more against the Red Devils in Premier League history (Ferdinand, Henry, Gerrard and Fowler with eight and Shearer with 10).
• Aguero needs 1 goal to equal the most goals scored by a player in Premier League Manchester derbies and go level with Wayne Rooney (8). If he scores in this game then Aguero would have managed that in 8 games, while Rooney took 16 derbies to do that.
• Aguero has scored 11 goals in his last 8 Premier League appearances at the Etihad Stadium.
• There were just 2 shots on target in this fixture back in October and 12 shots overall. The latter figure is the second lowest in any Premier League game this season.
• United failed to muster a single shot in the first half of a Premier League game for the first time since 2003/04 (including blocked) when these two sides met at Old Trafford earlier in the season.
• Manuel Pellegrini could become the first City manager to win 4 Premier League Manchester derbies this weekend. The last City manager to win 4 Manchester derbies in the league was Joe Mercer in 1970 (won 5 in total).
• United haven’t lost 3 successive league games away at City since 1955 (lost 4 in a row then).
• Marcus Rashford has been involved in 3 of United’s last 4 league goals (2 goals, 1 assist).

Team news

The groaning Manchester United ward includes Wayne Rooney (knee), Ashley Young (groin), Phil Jones (foot), Luke Shaw (obviously) and Donald Love (fictitious).

City are without Kevin De Bruyne, Fabian Delph and Samir Nasri, plus Nicolas Otamendi’s a doubt with a dead leg. Most importantly, Vincent Kompany’s persistent calf injury is back. The City defence’s capitulation in their captain’s absence is arguably rooted more in psychology than ability, but that’s why the problem perpetuates; why they concede a goal, on average, twice as often when he’s out.

Still, Kompany’s taken it on the chin, saying: “My whole life at the moment is forgetting what has gone before.” Bleak.

Key battle: Martin Demichelis vs Marcus Rashford

It’s possible Eliaquim Mangala will play (especially if Otamendi joins Kompany on the sidelines), which could be nervewracking given the midweek Dynamo Kiev game was his first appearance since January 6. Martin Demichelis’s place in the team looks guaranteed.

Demichelis’s last league game was the aforementioned defeat that threw City’s title challenge under the bus. The 35-year-old lost the famously sneaky Robert Huth for Leicester’s first goal, was humiliated by Riyad Mahrez for their second and lost Huth again for the third (he’s practically a ninja).

Meanwhile, 18-year-old Marcus Rashford somehow hasn’t lived up to the double double that brought four goals in his first two senior appearances, scoring none in the five games since. However, he hasn’t been helped by circumstances – or his team-mates – and the way in which he evaded Arsenal defenders to find space for his brace augurs well for his match-up with Demichelis.

What won’t happen

Both sides convince in a competitive display of high-quality football that leaves the giants of Europe quaking in their Diadoras.

What will happen

Manchester City concede but win to keep their title hopes alive while Van Gaal contemplates retiring to the country (or managing one). 3-1.

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Billed as

Europe? What Europe? We’ve got a title to win, y’all.

The lowdown

Move along, nothing to see here. From looking like capable Europa League winners to bowing out gracefully in a fortnight, it won’t really be clear for a couple of months whether Mauricio Pochettino’s rotation was worth it. Tottenham were humbled 5-1 on aggregate by Borussia Dortmund in the end, with Pochettino admitting he’d perhaps made a mistake resting four key players in the first-leg 3-0 stuffing.

Dortmund went full strength for both legs and, like Tottenham, are five points behind their league’s leader. But Dortmund are also 16 points clear of third, and being five points behind Bayern Munich is a very different proposition. Spurs have a gritty, grinding Leicester in their sights.

The north Londoners haven’t finished higher than 4th since 1990, and the last time they won the title some kids in leather jackets with bowl haircuts were trying to make it at the Cavern Club. But this Spurs are different – in control, and mostly pummelling their Premier League opponents to submission.

Sure, they fluffed their lines against West Ham and should have beaten Arsenal at home while Francis Coquelin’s head rolled down the touchline, but they’re the only blemishes in nine league games.

But this weekend they face a Bournemouth side who have been quietly brilliant since mid-January. Three wins on the spin have hauled them to what will eventually become guaranteed safety, and they’ve proved incredibly difficult to beat away – just one defeat in their last nine road trips.

The Cherries aren’t quite the plucky paupers they’ve been made out to be this season, but what Eddie Howe has achieved with a stack of big injuries this season is hugely impressive. Of last weekend’s 14 players who overcame Swansea 3-2, 10 helped the Cherries win promotion from the Championship, and seven were there when they clambered out of League One in 2013.

Facts and figures

• Bournemouth and Tottenham have only ever met twice, with the Cherries winning an FA Cup tie 3-1 in 1957 and Spurs claiming the Premier League match-up earlier this season 5-1.
• Tottenham have lost only 2 of their last 16 home league games (W9 D5).
• Bournemouth have lost just 1 of their last 9 away league matches (W4 D4). That defeat came in north London, though, at Arsenal.
• Harry Kane has scored 8 goals in his last 9 league games and now has 19 in the competition this season, just 2 away from his tally in 2014/15 (21).
• Dele Alli has had a hand in 14 goals in his last 19 league appearances for Spurs (6 goals, 8 assists).
• Only the current top two sides (Leicester, 34 and Tottenham, 33) have taken more points from league games since the start of December than Bournemouth (28).

Team news

Ben Davies lasted only 12 minutes of Thursday night’s 2-1 defeat to Dortmund after getting a whack to the head from colliding with Hugo Lloris, and probably won’t be risked. Jan Vertonghen (knee) and Clinton N’Jie (remember him?) won’t be back until early April.

Bournemouth midfielder Harry Arter (Achilles) will be assessed on the morning of the game after missing the Cherries’ last two matches and most of training this week. Junior Stanislas (hamstrung) faces four to five weeks on the sidelines, joining long-term crocks Callum Wilson and Tyrone Mings (both ACL).   

Key battle: Kyle Walker vs Max Gradel

Bournemouth wideman Gradel netted his first goal since returning from a five-and-a-half month lay-off against Swansea last weekend – eight years after his last Cherries goal, when on loan from Leicester in 2008 – and assisted another for Josh King.

The tricky Ivory Coast international, a £7m signing from Saint-Etienne in the summer, will do his best to drag the attacking Walker out of position with his regular inside runs.

It’s testament to Walker that he’s kept his league place despite Kieran Trippier breathing down his neck all season. The England man has had a strong season to complement Danny Rose’s excellent year on the opposite flank, taking advantage of weaker teams when rampaging forward. At Aston Villa last weekend he got away three shots, but showed defensive competency to boot (all that green, below).  

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What won’t happen

“You know what, Jim, as a neutral I’m just going to see if I can get a stream of this Spurs game. There’s no way I’ll be watching the Manchester derby on Super Sunday.”

What will happen

Harry Kane to reach 20 goals for the season, as Bournemouth have an off-day in north London. 2-0 Spurs.

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Billed as

The biggest Tyne-Wear derby in years. This Premier League ain't big enough for the both of 'em.

The lowdown

"I don't like him and the feeling is probably mutual." Charming, but that's the truth of Sam Allardyce's relationship with Rafa Benitez. The pair have exchanged the sort of playground insults of which Donald Trump would be proud ever since Allardyce’s Bolton inflicted Benitez’s first league defeat as Liverpool boss, with Big Sam later suggesting that Rafa's Champions League triumph in Istanbul was down to pure luck. Benitez's response: “Do you know who Sam Allardyce is?”

Rafa doesn’t think much of Allardyce’s tactical approach, either. “The style of football, I think, Barcelona are thinking of copying,” he said once, with just a hint of sarcasm. Meow.

Sadly for Benitez, Real Madrid fans decided they didn’t much like his own brand of football – winning 10-2 and 8-0 just wasn’t enough – and he now goes into his second match as Newcastle boss looking to end a run of six straight defeats for the Magpies in Tyne-Wear derbies.

The roles are reversed this time because curiously, four of those six Sunderland wins came in the second match under their own newly appointed manager. First Paolo Di Canio, then Gus Poyet, then Dick Advocaat, then Allardyce, who once lasted only eight months as Newcastle boss and manages the Black Cats at St James’ Park for the first time this weekend.

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With the pack pulling away and the hopeless Aston Villa finding new ways to make relegation even more inevitable, two of Newcastle, Norwich and Sunderland seem set to be playing Championship football next season. In other words, at least one of Newcastle and Sunderland will go down. Victory for either club here could be a huge leap towards survival.

Facts and figures

• Sunderland have won the last 6 Tyne-Wear derbies in league competition – their best-ever run against Newcastle.
• Jermain Defoe has scored 7 goals in his last 8 away league games.
• Sunderland have shipped 38 goals away this season, the most of any team in the Premier League.
• Sunderland scored with all 3 shots on target in October’s home win over Newcastle.
• The Black Cats have won just 3 of their last 26 Premier League away matches (W3 D8 L15).
• Newcastle have scored just 1 goal in their last 627 minutes against Sunderland.
• Sunderland have beaten Newcastle more times than they have any other opponent in the Premier League (9).
• Rafa Benitez has not lost his opening home league match as manager at any of his last six clubs (W5 D1).
• The only opposition manager that Benitez has beaten more often in the Premier League than Sam Allardyce (7) is David Moyes (10).
• Fabio Borini has scored more goals against Newcastle in the Premier League than versus any other opponent (3) and has scored in both of his Premier League apps for Sunderland against the Magpies.

Team news

Adam Johnson opened the scoring when these sides met earlier in the season but he definitely won’t be playing this time. John O’Shea is pushing for a start after appearing as a sub in the Black Cats’ last match following a calf problem, while Lee Cattermole could come into contention after concussion.

Andros Townsend came off the bench for Newcastle at Leicester on Monday after a hamstring injury, and may start. Fabricio Coloccini (calf) will be assessed after missing that match.

Key battle: Jonjo Shelvey vs Yann M’Vila

Newcastle’s Terry Alderton lookalike can lurch from the brilliant to the bumbling – a match-winner one game, a liability the next. Shelvey’s tendency to search for the Hollywood ball is the biggest explanation for this – not every pass of that nature can come off, so sometimes they’ll be defence-splitters, other times a hopeless waste of possession. Shelvey completed 37 of 48 passes at Leicester on Monday, but fewer than 50% (7 of 15) in the final third – and his only successful long passes were sideways or backwards.

French midfielder M’Vila has been one of the successes of a difficult season for Sunderland, although his own distribution wasn’t great in the Black Cats’ last match, giving the ball away 17 times in 41 attempted passes. Both players could have a big impact on this game if they produce the form they are capable of – and a rather different impact if they produce the poor play they’re sometimes guilty of.

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What won’t happen

A 5-4 thriller featuring high quality, exhibition football – prompting Rafa and Big Sam to lace daisies into each other's hair, congratulate each other on a fine sporting occasion and realise that they loved each other all along.

What will happen

A few managerial jibes and a tense match low on skill, potentially decided by a defensive error. If not, 0-0.

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Billed as

The battle of Slaven Biridge.

The lowdown

Last time West Ham arrived at Stamford Bridge above Chelsea in the league, their centre-forward was Lee Chapman. That was March 26, 1994; Chelsea have had the better in most of the intervening 22 seasons – but not this time.

Having walked the league last season, the Blues imploded and called upon Guus Hiddink for stability. By contrast, the Hammers, steady but unfulfilled under Sam Allardyce, turned to Slaven Bilic for excitement – and have been richly rewarded. Flying high in fifth, they’re only a good weekend off overhauling a Manchester City side concentrating on the Champions League and an Arsenal outfit facing its own existential crisis.

Meantime, the Blues’ season is over in March – out of the FA Cup and Champions League and beached in mid-table, 11 points below the top four and 15 above the drop zone. For all that, there’s not an ocean between the teams – Crisis Club Chelsea have scored 43 league goals to Free-Flowing West Ham’s 45.

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Bilic has bothered Hiddink before: Croatia’s Euro 2012 play-off win over Turkey cost the Dutchman his job, four years after the Croats and Hiddink’s Russia combined to bar Steve McClaren’s England from the Euros – and three years after Bilic was tipped to follow Hiddink’s first managerial cameo at the Bridge.

Thoroughly enjoying their Farewell-To-Boleyn season, West Ham are top of the overall form table but their away success has dropped off a cliff: after gaining 13 road points from the first 15, they’ve won just two of the last 10 league trips. Then again, Chelsea – tiptoeing up the table rather than striding up the standings – have drawn five of their last six home league games, and the only Stamford Bridge visitors not to score during Hiddink’s second spell have been Scunthorpe. 

Facts and figures

• Chelsea have won 7 and lost 0 of the last 9 Premier League games against West Ham at Stamford Bridge.
• During that 9-game run, the Blues have kept 6 clean sheets and conceded just 3 goals.
• Overall, West Ham have won just 2 of the last 19 Premier League meetings with Chelsea (D3 L14).
• The Blues are unbeaten in 13 Premier League games since Jose Mourinho left (W6 D7), but have only won 2 at home (W2 D5).
• The Hammers have lost just 2 of their last 16 Premier League matches (W7 D7 L2).
• Diego Costa has had a hand in 12 of Chelsea’s 22 Premier League goals since Guus Hiddink took charge of the club (8 goals, 4 assists) – but will be suspended for this match.
• Dimitri Payet has contributed 5 goals and 5 assists in his last 7 West Ham appearances.
• Payet has had a hand in 21 goals this season in all competitions for West Ham (11 goals, 10 assists), 12 more than any other West Ham player.
• Michail Antonio has scored 5 headers from just 5 headed attempts on target in the Premier League this season.
• Chelsea are the only team in the Premier League not to concede a goal inside the opening 15 minutes of a match this season.

Team news

Eden Hazard will probably still be out with hip-jip, and Diego Costa is on the naughty step in a Hannibal mask – a blow, considering he’s been involved in more than half of Chelsea’s goals under Hiddink. 

After six successive substitute appearances in the league, Andy Carroll had first start in two months in the FA Cup game at Old Trafford – but Diafra Sakho, on as sub in the last three games as he returns to fitness, is pushing to replace Emmanuel Emenike.

Key battle: Jon Obi Mikel vs Dimitri Payet

Jon Obi Mikel is a man reborn under Guus Hiddink. Since coming on at half-time in the Dutchman’s first game, the midfielder has started 13 of the subsequent 17 games (compared to five of Mourinho’s 25 this season), unfussily anchoring the midfield with Nemanja Matic or Cesc Fabregas, to taste.

However, Hiddink may need a particular plan for Payet, who roams between the hole and the wings – especially since Manuel Lanzini’s return sparked a run of four wins in five. The Hammers are at their best when Payet drifts wide to switch with the Argentine winger: does Mikel drift with him, or pass him on? 

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What won’t happen

As news filters through that Palace have gone in front at home to Leicester, the entire ground unites to sing (to the tune of She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain) “Oh we hope that Tottenham Hotspur win the league”.

What will happen

When Chelsea go in front after half an hour, Bilic gets a whisper in the ear from baggy-eyed sidekick Nicola Jurcevic; a rejigged Hammers emerge for the second half and earn a deserved point. 1-1. 

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Billed as

Arsene Wenger’s last roll of the dice.

The lowdown

In the last week, Arsenal have gone out of both the FA Cup and the Champions League. Granted, one was much more of a surprise than the other, but the long and short is that all the Gunners’ eggs are in one basket before we’ve even reached Easter. Oh, and they’re 11 points off the pace.

It’ll come as little consolation to the north London club’s seething fans, but they’ve been in worse positions in the not-too-distant past. Before the back-to-back FA Cup wins of 2014 and 2015, the Gunners endured three straight seasons of early cup exits – and in the latter two years it was a top-four spot they were chasing from way back, rather than the main prize.

In fact, creditable exits from the Champions League – and Wednesday evening’s 3-1 defeat at Camp Nou was hardly shameful – have generally inspired a domestic late-season surge. Last year’s almost-comeback against Monaco was followed by 18 points from nine Premier League matches, the previous year’s fruitless draw at Bayern was followed by 20 points from 10, and 2013’s away-goal loss to the Bavarian outfit inspired a run of 26 points from the final 10 fixtures.

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Arsenal, and Wenger in particular, need a similar upturn this time around. They’ll aim to start that at Goodison Park, where Arsenal have lost just once in the previous eight seasons (a 3-0 humbling towards the end of 2013/14).

Everton's form this season has been mixed at best: Roberto Martinez’s men have won just two of their last 11 home league matches, and those were against Aston Villa and Steve McClaren’s Newcastle. Mercifully for Martinez – another manager facing questions from sections of his own fanbase – the FA Cup performances have been better. Last weekend’s victory over Chelsea has given the Merseysiders only their third FA Cup semi since winning the competition back in 1995.

It would be understandable if the cup became Everton’s primary focus from here on in, which would be music to Arsene’s ears. He simply cannot afford to lose this match. 

Facts and figures

• Olivier Giroud has scored 5 goals in his last 5 games in all competitions against Everton, including in each of the last 3 league meetings.
• In 5 appearances (all comps) against the Toffees, Mesut Ozil has scored 2 goals and assisted 4 more.
• Everton have won just 1 of the last 18 matches in all competitions against the Gunners (D6 L11).
• Arsene Wenger’s side have won none of the last 3 league trips to Goodison Park (D2 L1).
• Everton have won just 1 of their last 8 league games at Goodison Park (D2 L5).
• Arsenal have won just 2 of their last 9 league matches on the road (D4 L3).
• Arsenal’s title challenge has faltered in recent weeks with the Gunners taking just 10 points from the last 27 available (W2 D4 L3).
• Arsenal have fired in the fewest shots on target from outside the box this season (25) and scored the joint-fewest goals from long range (2, along with Watford and Leicester).
• Roberto Martinez’s team have committed the fewest fouls in the Premier League this season (235).
• Only Arsenal (33) have picked up fewer yellow cards than Everton (36) in the top flight this season.

Team news

Gareth Barry and Kevin Mirallas are both suspended for the hosts, who may once again opt to leave John Stones on the bench in favour of the Chelsea-defying duo of Phil Jagielka and Ramiro Funes Mori.

With Petr Cech still out, Arsenal must once again give the gloves to David Ospina. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also remains sidelined. Wenger is likely to rotate following Wednesday evening’s battle at Barcelona. 

Key battle: Aaron Lennon vs Nacho Monreal

Saturday’s lunchtime encounter will pit Arsenal against a familiar foe. Former Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon has a history of scoring against Arsenal, having netted three times in north London derbies; he has also scored six times for Everton in 2016, most recently against West Ham, while at Aston Villa he was the Toffees’ busiest passer in the final third.

Attempting to stop him will be Nacho Monreal, who has been among Arsenal’s more consistent performers this season. In the home win against Leicester that so raised Gooner hopes, he kept Riyad Mahrez quiet and won 5 of his 7 tackles.

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What won’t happen

The result to be met with suitable emotion by Arsenal fans on Twitter and YouTube.

What will happen

The result to be an impressive 3-1 away win, which prematurely reignites talk of a title push.

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