Gary Neville supports Tottenham to strike Arsenal and believes that the derby in north London will be extra spicy after the Gunners postponed the match under controversial circumstances earlier this year – a decision he did not agree with.
Mikel Arteta’s team could finish fourth – and Champions League football – on Thursday night if they win their away game against Spurs, with Arsenal currently four points ahead of their rivals.
The two teams were to meet in January, but the match was postponed despite the Gunners having only one Covid case, with a combination of outgoing loans, injuries and Afcon participation, leaving Arteta with a heavily worn squad.
There was a lot of criticism of the postponement – not least from Spurs and the manager Antonio Conte – and Neville feel that the long-awaited derby will be particularly hostile as a result, while he believes Tottenham will have the advantage in the competition.
In a speech on the Gary Neville Podcast, he said: ‘I think it’s going to be a really tasty match on Thursday night, not just because it’s a north London derby and they’re playing for Champions League places.
‘But the way this game was canceled earlier this year – even I was not so happy about it!
‘I was not comfortable with it, I was playing the game, I came down on Saturday and I just felt like it … was not great.
‘So there comes a little bit of needle that is there anyway, so we do not need to talk about it. Look, it’s Arsenal’s losing, but Tottenham on Thursday night, it’s going to be tough for Arsenal. If they come from there with a draw or a win, they will have done very well with the feeling that will be in that stadium against them.
‘It’s a big fight, I look forward to it. I feel like Tottenham on Thursday night. I thought they were brilliant at Anfield, I thought it was a really good performance because Liverpool are one of the very best. ‘
Neville, who praised Tottenham’s display against Liverpool, continued: ‘Tottenham had to withstand a lot of pressure defensively, they did well defensively, but Harry Kane and Son Heung-min – the reason to counter-attack is the hardest to counter-attack on. I think there is less space there than there is [at the Etihad]. There is just.
‘I know they’ve done well [at the Etihad] but Anfield is so close and Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate are so fast and so strong that you think to yourself: how do Kane and Son do it to them? But they did. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant, I thought they were excellent.
“They’s still a pleasure, they’ve been excellent for a number of seasons now, but it’s the toughest away game you have to play, I think, Anfield, and it’s the toughest match to counter – attack because the space is so small. it feels like in the middle of midfield where Kane picked it up and had to break.
“But Tottenham connected through Kane to the wide players, he kept it up enough, he moved away and rolled people just to get the pass away or flipped and got that pass away and he does it absolutely fantastic. It can Conte as coach, he has that kind of warrior mentality in him. ‘
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