Joe Fitzpatrick 
We all know that our lack of transfer activity this summer has been quite farcical while Tottenham look set to have broken their transfer record for the third time this summer (by the end of today) with the capture of Erik Lamela for £30m despite their failure to qualify for the Champions league for the last 16 consecutive seasons. I also hear that the Spuds from up the road are close to signing Christian Eriksen from Ajax which I must say brought a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye because he is a player that I rate quite highly and would have loved to have seen him in an Arsenal shirt one day. Yes It's frustrating, Yes It's depressing and we feel like we are all being taken for a ride by the club that we all adore but we have no choice but to carry on supporting the team with all of our Gooner hearts even if we have taken the difficult decision to withdraw our financial support from the club.
I feel a lot better now that I've given up my £1,500 season ticket and I'm no longer contributing to the ever burgeoning cash reserve at Arsenal P.L.C. but, I can't help but wish the team well, after all it's not the fault of our players that the board and Manager refuse to strengthen the squad. Many of our players have actually been quite vocal about our need for new signings and they should be applauded for their efforts.
The good news is that with Tottenham signing so many new players in the last two summer transfer windows they have had relatively little time to gel into a potent attacking force, as of yet, and it is for that reason that Arsenal should be thanking their lucky stars that the North London derby is taking place so early on in the season. Tottenham have yet to score a single goal from open play in the premiership so far while we have scored four in our games against Aston Villa and Fulham not to mention the five that we put past Fenerbache over two games.
Tottenham look like they are going to be a tough team to score against this season with Dawson and Vertonghen looking solid in central defence while Capoue, Dembele and Paulinho have the attributes to offer decent defensive cover from central midfield but, fortunately for us, It looks as though they are struggling to provide adequate service for the dangerous Roberto Soldado because Andre Villas-Boas is building a whole new team and is concentrating on making them harder to beat than they have been in previous seasons, putting defensive discipline and organisation before attacking flair. Tottenham will of course score a fair amount of goals this season with players like Soldado, Defoe, Lamela and possibly Eriksen in their team but there is little evidence so far to suggest that they offer as much going forward as we do at this moment in time.
Losing Lukas Podolski and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to injury has no doubt put a dent into our attacking options from the bench but we still have Walcott, Giroud, Cazorla and the steadily improving Aaron Ramsey who are all more than capable of putting the ball into the back of the net so, as long as we can keep it tight at the back we should be alright against a Tottenham side who are still to gel into a completely cohesive unit. Of course it's easier said than done and Arsene Wenger hasn't exactly made life easy for himself by refusing to sign a centre half or a holding midfielder but, as long as we can continue to score goals freely we should be able to beat Tottenham by a goal or two.
Danny Rose has been starting at left back for the Spuds in the last couple of games and he is the only weak link that I can identify in their defensive unit, mainly due to his relative inexperience more than anything else. If Theo Walcott wants to justify his £100,000 a week wages to the Arsenal faithful he will have no better chance than this Sunday to do it because, Danny Rose is no Evra, Cole or Baines and to put it quite frankly, If Theo can't run a few rings around a very raw and inexperienced left back like Danny Rose then his use to Arsenal as a right sided attacker should be up for urgent review. I would like to see Cazorla and Theo swap sides during this game (at times) to confuse the opposition and allow Theo to cut inside on his right foot while also allowing our gifted Spaniard the chance to humiliate Rose on the right but, as it's never happened before I don't expect Wenger to try this during the game.
Olivier Giroud has been in fine form this season and looks to have lost a bit of weight over the summer making his movement much sharper and if he can pull on to Dawson rather than Vertonghen at set pieces then I fancy him to have the beating of the Englishman in the air. I hope that Jack, Tomas and Aaron are all fully fit and firing for this one because we will need them to press Tottenham's midfield and win the ball back quickly as well as to provide the front three with enough ammunition to maintain our record of scoring five goals against the Spuds every time they rock up at the Grove with the silly idea that THEY are somehow better than US. Not yet they aren't.... Not yet.
