114 SPORT PRemieR league^ The Mail on Sunday September 1, 2019
Pochettino is under pressure. I get the
feeling Spurs is not happiest place to be
danny murphy’s big-maTch guide aRSenal v^ TOTTenham
F
OR the first time in a long
while, Arsenal fans will go into
a N o r t h L o n d o n d e r b y
expecting them to win. That
may sound a bit strange coming
off a defeat at Anfield where
Liverpool beat them easily, even if
they did win their first two games.
Tottenham, meanwhile, sneaked over
the line against Aston Villa, got lucky
at Manchester City in a game where
they were battered, then lost at home
to Newcastle.
There is uncertainty over the
futures of Christian Eriksen and Jan
Vertonghen. I get the feeling Spurs is
not the happiest place at the moment.
Although Arsenal lost at Liverpool, I
think the supporters are fully behind
Unai Emery and believe they can have
a good season. Tottenham and
Mauricio Pochettino are under more
pressure.UNAI E MERy needs to ditch the diamond and unleash
Arsenal’s ferocious front three of Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang, Alex Lacazette and new signing Pepe
together for the first time.
The Gunners boss defended his choice of formation
against Liverpool but I thought they were all over the
place. They did not look like a team that had worked
together in that formation.
I understood his desire to do something different after
numerous failed attempts at playing their own way at
Anfield but it just let Liverpool dominate with their full-
backs. That’s why I would be surprised if Arsenal did not
go back to a 4-3-3. Pepe already looks like he has got real
creativity and pace.
Having those three start up top automatically puts Spurs
on the back foot. As soon as you walk out and see those
three up against you, you know you have to leave an extra
defender back. It pins in their full-backs, which is an area
Tottenham have problems in now with the injury to Kyle
Walker-Peters and Serge Aurier’s future in doubt.Key man Eriksen
just has to start
THE big conundrum for Pochettino is
does he put Christian Eriksen back in
the side. They have missed him when
he’s not there. He was poor in his only
start against City but when he came
on against Villa and Newcastle he
changed the dynamic.
Against Villa, he was only on the
pitch for 26 minutes but in that time
Spurs created more chances and had
more shots than they had all the game.
He is so important. Just look around
their midfield, there is really no one
else with his ability to create. Moussa
Sissoko is a runner. Harry Winks is a
holder. Tanguy Ndombele has shownhe is capable but he is not fit. Eriksen
has been there and done it in North
London derbies. Poch needs to pick
him.Time for Emery to play
attacking triumvirate
Ceballos
ready to
bring his
brand of
‘anarchy’
Why he’s crucial to spurs
Since the start of the 2016-17 season,
Christian Eriksen has created twice as
many chances in the Premier League
as his next closest team-mate and
almost twice as many assists.6
Chances created by Eriksen this
season, the most of any Spurs player
— and he has started only one game!Player Chances created Assists
C Eriksen 286 37
D Alli 143 20
S Heung-min 117 18IT did not take long for Dani
Ceballos to win over Arsenal
supporters. An hour into his home
debut he robbed Burnley’s Johann
Gudmundsson and played in
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for
the winner. The Emirates sensed
this could be the start of
something special.
Wind back his career clock about
seven years to the day he was
discovered by Spanish club Betis
and the story of instant impact is
very similar.
Betis scout Aurelio Santos had
turned up to a regional Under-16s
game to watch two opposing
full-backs, when a midfield
tearaway who he knew nothingabout stole the show. Just 15
minutes into the game he called
his assistant to see if the name
‘Ceballos’ figured
in the club’s huge
database but there
was no trace.
‘That day he did
everything,’
Santos told the
Mail on Sunday.
‘He won a penalty,
he took the penalty,
and when it was
saved he ran to pickthe ball up before sprinting across
to take the subsequent corner. He
was hyperactive. We knew we had
to have him.’
Santos asked Ceballos’ team,
Utrera, if he could come for a
trial. The next battle was to
make sure Real Madrid
and Barcelona didn’t
steal him away.
‘We weren’t able to
play the game at our
own training ground and
we were picking players
for the following
season so there
was lots of
talent on
display.Real Madrid and Barcelona were
watching.
‘We took Dani off before the
break. The decision was made. We
didn’t need to see any more.
‘I spoke to him afterwards and he
was with one of his team-mates.
He said: “I’ll get going because
you obviously don’t want me”.
‘He thought because we’d taken
him off we weren’t interested. I
had to tell him: “No, we want you.
We just didn’t want anyone else to
see you!”’
Ceballos was not short of self
confidence as a teenager. He was
nicknamed ‘Dani Nike’ after he
had the brand’s trademark swoosh
shaved into the side of his head. InFrom Pete Jenson
IN BARCELONAArsenal v
Tottenham
Today, 4.30pmSissokoAlderweireld
SanchezRosePepeLacazetteAubameyangIF Emery starts a front
three of Aubameyang,
Lacazette and Pepe, it
will stop Spurs pushing
their full-backs too high
for fear of leaving their
centre-backs exposed.Liverpool 3
Arsenal 1
Aug 24, 2019PepeAubameyangWillock CeballosXhaka
GuendouziAlexander-ArnoldRobertsonArSEnAL played a
narrow diamond with
just two up front in their
defeat by Liverpool but
it gave the opposition
full-backs the freedom
to bomb forward.Vertonghen