Gus Poyet hopes that Tottenham beat Arsenal in Sunday's North London Derby to make the Premier League "a bit more interesting".
Arsenal come into the game looking to maintain their five-point lead over second-placed Manchester City in the Premier League while Spurs, in fifth spot and two points behind third-placed Newcastle, will not want the Gunners to pull away into a huge 14 point lead ahead of them in the table if they were to come and win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Poyet has given his take on how he believes the match will shape up and why he hopes Antonio Conte's side end up as victors at the final whistle.
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"I think we’ll see Arsenal try to dominate possession to stop Tottenham going too far. Maybe Spurs will change a little bit and not being too passive. There will be moments in the game where Tottenham will be very organised," the Uruguayan told WhatAcca.com.
"It all comes down to key moments and key players. When you have a chance, you must score. Scoring first is really important. I really hope that Tottenham win to make the Premier League a bit more interesting."
The former Spurs assistant manager believes that despite the gap between the two teams this season the game is bigger for the visitors than it is for the hosts.
"The North London derby is big for Tottenham but massive for Arsenal. I don’t know why but everybody seems to be waiting for Arsenal to make a mistake and it’s just not happening. Nobody seems to be counting on Arsenal to sustain their form right now," he said.
"In the beginning, I wasn’t sure myself but after 12, 13, 14 games, it’s time to say that Arsenal need to be respected. They’ve got a great chance now. I know we’re not in the middle of the season yet but they have been consistently winning and keeping everybody behind.
"Now this is a big test for Arsenal now. If they want to win the Premier League title, they have to go to Tottenham on Sunday and win. For Tottenham, this is a great opportunity to stop Arsenal in their tracks and bring them down a little bit."
He added: "For Tottenham fans, this is good enough, to bring Manchester City a little bit closer in the title race but also win against their arch-rivals. It’s going to be a great game. You need to have played in a North London derby to understand what it means.
"My first experience of a North London derby was when Sol Campbell returned to Tottenham and the atmosphere was like nothing else. Before I played in a derby, I thought ‘OK this is just another derby’, although when you play in the game, you finally realise that it’s something special.
"There’s going to be tension on the pitch but desire from both teams. The hope is that we get a football game and afterwards we’re not left talking about VAR. VAR is becoming a problem. Five years ago, we were always talking about ref decisions and now VAR seems to produce all the talking points."
Poyet also paid tribute to his former Chelsea team-mate and manager Gianluca Vialli who passed away this month.
"It was very difficult for me. I put out a statement through the Greek FA as I'm not on social media but it was a very sad day. I tried to remember Gianluca just in a short few words. One day I had him next to me in the dressing room, complaining about the coach, and the day after, he was my coach!" he remembered.
"And the relationship changes dramatically. Dramatically! And I said to him “Luca, last time we were talking about the coach and now you are the coach”. A different point-of-view. It was interesting because that changed my mind in football. It made me think about football more when Gianluca went from team-mate to manager.
"He was a very professional manager. A winner. Doing everything possible to win. I remember the Monday mornings after a weekend loss and he was coming in after a bad night’s sleep and thinking about how we lost the game.
"A top man and he’s going to be missed. Sometimes we are human beings and we don’t realise how quick life can change. I woke up in Uruguay and found out the sad news. It hit me hard and it’s very sad."
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