Arsenal's hopes of being crowned this season's Premier League champions suffered a minor setback as they were beaten 1-0 by Everton on Saturday afternoon.
However, it could still turn out to be a decent weekend thanks to an unlikely source in north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur who host second-placed Manchester City this afternoon with Gunners legend Martin Keown making a bold claim following the defeat at Goodison Park.
"Arsenal fans become Spurs fans tomorrow against Man City," the former defender said on BT Sport. " This is a young Arsenal team and it’s something that they’ve not really encountered before, the energy from this ground today, they just didn’t show up, just didn’t move the ball swiftly, and they allowed Everton to get into the game and win it."
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To Keown's point, recent history suggests that Gunners supporters should feel rather confident about Spurs' chances against Pep Guardiola's side as they've won every single fixture between the two teams at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium - which is four games across two competitions.
In fact, Man City are yet to even score a goal at Spurs' new ground and the Spaniard acknowledged this dismal record during his pre-match press conference: "They were better than us. When we were there we played good, missed penalties," he said, as per the Manchester Evening News. "They don't give you anything, before, now with Conte, they are a tough opponent. Always there for titles. A tough place to go."
Should City fail to put an end to this record then the best-case scenario for Arsenal is that they will be four points clear if the game in north London ends all square, whilst their five-point lead at the top of the Premier League table will remain intact should Spurs win this particular fixture for a fifth time in a row.
Now, the idea of Tottenham helping the Gunners in the title race most likely won't sit well with their fans. But the Lilywhites have an incentive of their own as victory will move them to within a point of Newcastle United who currently occupy the final Champions League qualification spot.
With that in mind, it wasn't too long ago when some Arsenal supporters were hoping for a favour from Spurs ahead of their trip to the Etihad Stadium for the reverse fixture last month. For 45 minutes, it looked like a shock was on the cards with the visitors leading 2-0 thanks to goals from Dejan Kulusevski and Emerson Royal.
Although City fought back in the second half to win the game 4-2 and know a repeat scoreline in north London this afternoon will leave them hot on the heels of the Gunners.
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