Arsenal take on Spurs this weekend in what is another huge north London and one that both teams simply must win.
Arsenal are coming off a 2-1 win over Bournemouth last weekend and have now gone 17 games unbeaten in the league.
Spurs also picked up an impressive result and demolished Chelsea to keep them in the top four.
Within those two sides, there are two players who are having much different seasons at the club.
Hector Bellerin
Signed from the Barcelona youth system, Bellerin was converted from a winger into a fullback during his time with academy and has gone on to establish himself as one of the better young fullbacks in world football.
The Spaniard was thrust into first-team following a raft of injuries and endured a tough debut against Borussia Dortmund.
Following that baptism of fire, he would go on to become the starting fullback in the side. Possessing searing pace, Bellerin has the ability to go past defender with ease. What was always a question mark was his ability to defend, which, under Emery this year has improved massively.
With Emery’s intense style of coaching, Bellerin game is starting to improve and if he can continue to work on his defending, the 23-year-old could turn into a world-class fullback.
TT Grade: B+
Kieran Trippier
Signed for just £3.5 million three years ago, Trippier announced himself on the world stage over the summer with England. The Spurs man was one of the stars of Southgate’s side but since that successful summer, he’s found it hard to find form with Spurs.
Despite Tottenham making a solid start to the season, Trippier’s defending has been one of the weak links in the side. Against City, he was completely at sea and so far this season he hasn’t quite matched his exploits from a year ago.
Going forward, he doesn’t have the pace of Bellerin but what he does have is a superb delivery – arguably one of the best in the league. He might be more defensively sound than the Spaniard too but on current form he isn’t matching Bellerin’s performances.
TT Grade: B
The Verdict
A tough battle to call but for his potential and improvement, this season Bellerin wins this one. While the Trippier deal was a brilliant bit of transfer business by Spurs, capturing Bellerin from Barcelona’s youth academy looks like another one of Wenger’s superb deals.
If he can continue to improve under Emery, Arsenal have a future star at the club.
