This time, it is game on. After Arsenal successfully requested to postpone the last north London derby because they were lacking 15 first-teamers, the annoyance along Seven Sisters Road only really subsided once the final whistle blew on the rescheduled fixture. The switch turned it into a de facto shootout for Champions League qualification; Tottenham won resoundingly, if not without controversy, on a stormy May night at their home and the issue was duly settled.
The prize is not as immediate on Saturday but the old wounds are easily wrenched back open. Nobody would dream of petitioning to put this encounter back a few months, because these bitter rivals are both flying. An Arsenal win would, in a development few of their exploits in recent memory would prepare anyone for, entrench their position as early leaders; if Antonio Conte can cajole a first win at the Emirates for Tottenham since November 2010, they will leapfrog the hosts.
