While grieving the loss of his former Juventus teammate and legendary Italian player Gianluca Vialli, Conte delegated the managerial duties to Cristian Stellini and watched his Tottenham team struggle more to defeat League One side Portsmouth in the FA Cup than they did Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
Harry Kane’s sweetly struck goal helped Tottenham defeat a tenacious and determined Portsmouth team, securing a trip to Preston North End in the fourth round, three days after scoring four unanswered goals against the Eagles away from home.
While Conte will undoubtedly be focused on ending Spurs’ dreadful 15-year trophy drought, the Italian is up against it to get his team into consecutive seasons of the Champions League.
Spurs are currently in fifth place in the standings with 33 points out of a possible 54, two points behind Manchester United despite having played one more game.
The red and whites won’t travel to hostile territory for a short distance shaking in their boots!
Arsenal is learning the hard way about zealous handball penalty appeals after being hit with not one, but two improper conduct charges stemming from their most recent two games, but their refusal to concede a penalty against Oxford United had little bearing on the outcome of that FA Cup third-round match.
Continuing to defy the doubters in the absence of Gabriel Jesus, Eddie Nketiah made it four goals in four games with a brace at the Kassam Stadium after Mohamed Elneny swapped his long-range bullets for a close-range header to break the deadlock, but the Gunners will now have to go through Manchester City to reach round five.
Arsenal struggled mightily in a 0-0 Premier League draw with Newcastle United six days prior to crushing Oxford, cutting their lead over Manchester City at the top to five points once more as the season’s halfway point approaches.
Arsenal is currently unbeaten in their last 11 Premier League games. They have also won five of their last six away games in the top division!
In Arsenal’s well-deserved victory over Spurs at the Emirates in October, Thomas Partey, Gabriel Jesus, and Granit Xhaka all caused the net to tremble.
However, Tottenham has won all three North London derbies at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and would give anything to further thwart their rivals’ title aspirations.
1×2 Betting Odds
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has not been a happy hunting ground for Arsenal lately, but the underwhelming version of Conte’s side has come out to play more often that the free-flowing version during the winter period.
Kulusevski’s anticipated return will undoubtedly aid Tottenham with their creative edge, but the rested Arsenal first-team players should be able to manage all three points!
And the betting market agrees, as Conte’s side are not the favourites to win @ 3.30!
Arsenal has not had a good recent record at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but despite that fact they are the favourites to win @ 2.25.
The possibility of a stalemate, and perhaps advantage Man City, stands @ 3.95.
Total goals over/under
The odds that the total number of goals scored will be over 2.5, stands @ 1.82.
While the odds that the total number of goals will be under 2.5, stands @ 2.18.
Arsenal are expected to pick up all three points as their odds suggest, but the market also reckons that this game will see plenty of goal action!
Derbies are a hard one to predict, so expect goals and action from both the North London sides!
