The Land Before Time

Here at The Lovely Reds we could hardly sleep.

Today has been marked down in the calendar since the fixture list was released way back in August of last year.

The North London derby is upon us and for those who don't know what this means, it means 3 points for Arsenal and a safari trip to gaze in disbelief at a land long forgotten by mankind.

Queue Jurassic Park theme tune.

*Film Trailer Voice* 'This Spring go where no man has been before, travel to a land long forgotten by time, the time when dinosaurs walked the earth'

Sandro, Bentaleb and Dawson stomp past the camera rearing their disfigured heads with all the grace and manoeuvrability of a Smeg fridge.

Squawking and yelping they fight over the decaying carcass of a smaller dinosaur, before proceeding to head butt each other and despondently slink away into the undergrowth.

'Tottenham Hotspur, The Land Before Time' coming soon to a cinema near you.

This has not been a happy time for our neighbours, they were roundly humiliated by Chelsea at Stamford bridge, handing victory to the league leaders through a series of calamitous back passes and poor decision making. Then at WHL they were undone by a classy Benfica side who simply outplayed them from front to back.

This, of course, presents us with some opportunity but as the old adage goes 'a wounded animal is the most dangerous'.

Tottenham and renowned Gooner Tim Sherwood are backed into a corner and have plenty to prove to their critics after a disastrous week. This might give them that extra yard when it counts today.

Similarly we are without  some of a our best players in Ozil, Ramsey, Wilshere and Walcott who would all have started if they were fit. Not to say our midfield is weak however all those players featured prominently in our 1-0 victory at the start of the season and Ozil and Wilshere were present in our FA Cup demolition of Spurs.

Where we have beaten Spurs so far this season and where we have to be equally as dominant is in the midfield. High pressing and slick in possession we have to limit the supply to Tottenham's dangerman Adebayor. If we can do that then Tottenham have shown so far this season they don't have too many players capable of scoring from midfield (or from anywhere for that matter).

Between the Ox (what an individual performance against Bayern!) Rosicky, Santi and Flamteta we have skill, pace and finishing. It must be said though that Jack's initiative and willingness to drive forward will be missed as will the counterattacking pace of Walcott.

Tottenham haven't exactly spent their Bale windfall wisely, investing in rather limited monsters who roam the midfield,  a throwback to the early noughties when the Essien role was at the forefront of football's cutting edge. Times have moved on, unfortunately Spurs didn't get the memo. Players like Bentaleb, Dembele and Sandro aren't without their merits but they are simply too cumbersome to cope if we can keep the ball down and utilise our one-touch triangle passing to its best.

Either way it was very kind and sporting of Wenger to offer our friends a chance at least as we strongly believe that two full strength sides, injury-free and toe-to-toe would be a resounding victory for the boys in red.

As it so happens we are the most injury ravaged side in the league with an entire starting 11 on the sidelines. This has prompted Wenger and the Arsenal board to launch an enquiry into our training methods, something we believe is long, long overdue considering our team resembles a scene out of a WWI documentary.

A message to Giroud: Be strong monsieur Giroud, for in your path stands Michael Dawson, defender of sorts, entertainer of many. Be strong and your chance will come. Let's hope you can take it with the same conviction as your goal at the Emirates.

This is a must win, as it keeps us connected to the front runners who are starting to break away (FA Cup involvement is partly responsible). A loss and we start having to look over our shoulders at the freak who's lumbering after us groaning inaudibly like a scene from The Walking Dead.

We can't wait for this afternoon, let's hope the boys are as pumped as we are. We have to take the fight to Spurs on their home turf, play our game and give the fans some more great memories of a thoroughly engaging season. Right now we'd take the FA Cup trophy, a double over Spurs and a good fight in pursuit of the league, woudn't you?

For more Arsenal and football content follow @thelovelyreds on twitter and tune into the blog everyday for original content. Thanks for reading